Somewhere Between the Algebra and the Arson
by Alien Explosion
Summary: [AU] 15 year old Cloud lives in the slums, so it's given that his life sucks. Having an older brother like Reno only exacerbates the situation. Now with major chapter 10age.
1. Chewed out

Final Fantasy VII is the property of Squaresoft/Square-Enix.

A/N: Basically, this is an A/U high school fic, with Cloud and Reno as teenage brothers living in Midgar. A chaotic adventure ensues. …All I have to say is that this is different. I'm taking a lot of license here—but don't worry. Just trust me. And if you don't like it? I don't care. Okay, I probably will. Whatever.

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Somewhere Between the Algebra and the Arson

1. Chewed Out

It was the most ridiculous thing to bet on. And it was wagered by Seniors, no less. Elena put five-gil on schizophrenia. Pete's money was riding on ADD. Biggs fought rather furiously for homosexuality, the only time that he ever would. And Cloud's brother had gambled on some sort of 'ignored child seeking attention' syndrome.

And while sitting in Mrs. Richter's office, sinking back in that cushion chair and watching that smile of hers grow ever larger, Cloud unwillingly recalled these various wagers. He got to thinking: perhaps the Seniors weren't being as absurd as he first thought them to be. Because the woman before him really did believe him to be some sort of troubled kid: she repeatedly empathized with him, spoke nicely to him, and generally patronized him. And she truly _did_ sympathize with him, apparently because of one single fact.

"Wait a minute here, you…you _honestly_ think that Iset Mrs. Sheldon's hamster on fire?" Cloud questioned incredulously. 

Cloud's dumbfounded look did not break his counselor's patient demeanor. In fact, Mrs. Richter smiled kindly at the boy, one out of several dozen she had given him in the past half-hour. "Cloud, there's no need to deny it. Mrs. Alton can testify to the incident herself."

"Goddamn, the woman walked in right after I did!"

Obscenities only exacerbated her sympathy. She seemed to take no offense whatsoever. It was really starting to piss off Cloud. "Really?" she asked.

"Yes, really," he answered impatiently.

"Would you like to elaborate on what 'really' happened, then?" 

"Okay, look, I went in to ask Mrs. Sheldon a question about a lab we were working on, but she wasn't there. I smelled fire, though. So I turned around and found her hamster cage on the floor, and Wonky was just…combusting or something, she was up in _flames_!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes! And then I panicked and ran over to the fire extinguisher. Then Mrs. Alton walked in. She saw the cage blazing, and she started going postal on me. She wrested the extinguisher from my hands and started spraying everything within like, a five-foot radius of the cage. I told her and Mrs. Sheldon what happened, but apparently they don't believe me."

"Nobody ever said that they didn't believe you, Cloud."

"Then why was I sent here?"

She smiled once again. Either that or it grew wider. "You are a smart young man, aren't you? Yes, we believe that there's more to your situation than yesterday's incident."

"My situation?"

"Yes, _your _situation."

Well, Cloud now knew who would be winning fifteen dollars after this. "I didn't know I had a 'situation'."

"Well, you're just an oblivious one, aren't you?" She teased. Still smiling, she moved her notepad to the side, pulled Cloud's file from where it lay on her desk, put on her nearly minuscule reading glasses, and proceeded to read off the long list of details that made up his student record. He was a Freshman, having turned 15 in August. His blood type was AB. He had lived in sector 6 his entire life, but he was born in Nibelheim. Mother, Gale Strife, office secretary. Father, Raymond Strife, deceased due to a reactor explosion that occurred when Cloud was 8. Cloud had had all of his major flu and virus shots already. He played football last semester, but was on the freshman team. He was an AB student. He enjoyed moonlit dinners and long walks on the beach. The strangest place he had ever made whoopee was-

Obviously, the last three details were fictitious and not listed in the file. But honestly, Cloud couldn't see why Mrs. Richter went to the trouble of reading it aloud in the first place. He felt like he was in the most boring episode of 'This is Your Life' ever. But it really was sad how monotonous his existence was. If she had mentioned the fact that he saw a flock of seagulls fly over Midgar once, then that would have made his life substantially more interesting. Instead, it was your typical story of an average slums boy. The only person in his life who really did complicate things was-

"-One older brother, Reno Strife, age 18. A senior." Mrs. Richter read. Her eyes peered at Cloud over the sheet. So that was what this was all about. She was supposed to have read Reno's name right after his parents', not right after reading his grades. "Cloud, do you and your brother get along?"

He shrugged, replying with the typical teenage answer. "I don't know." Indifference to everything characterized every lazy kid.

"Are you two buddies? Ever hang out?"

"Not really."

"Well then, do you two fight a lot?"

"…Pretty much. My mom's always scolding us, though."

Immediately her pen had hit the notepad, quickly scribbling something down. Mrs. Richter was one of those funny people who had to kind of mutter every single word that she wrote to herself, and Cloud could easily discern the words "rooted in brotherly antagonism?" emerging not-so-indiscreetly from her mouth.

She finished soon enough, picking up right where she left off and re-stapling her smile back onto her face. "So," she continued, "what sorts of things do you two fight about?"

"Uh, I don't know," said Cloud, scratching his head. "Um, I did start yelling at him this morning for dropping my toothbrush on the floor."

"And…?"

"And, um…" he was so confused. He desperately wanted to get out of there. He could have been outside playing football right now. God knows that he really needed to work on his throwing. Hell, he would take English over this. He figured that maybe she would stop asking him questions if he just kept blurting out another random things to say. "…We also fight about who has to take out the trash." He added.

Mrs. Richter shook her head disappointedly, removing her glasses and looking at Cloud seriously. "Cloud, you are aware of Reno's…history of delinquency, yes? Of course you are. Well then, what do you think about it? Do you approve of your brother's behavior?"

"No. No, I don't approve." This wasn't a lie. Reno really did piss off Cloud sometimes with his jackass stunts. It wasn't so much the fact that it caused bodily injury to others as much it was the embarrassment brought to Cloud himself. Everyday at school it was the same thing. 'Hey! Isn't your brother the guy who detonated that paint bomb in the library?' 'Whoa, you're the psycho's little brother!' 'Hey kid, is your brother dead yet?' 

Of course the only reason that Reno hadn't been kicked out of school yet was that he was never caught. Sure, everyone knew that he was the one who toilet papered the computer lab, stink bombed the girls' locker rooms, and rigged the votes for the Homecoming dance (Mrs. Richter was elected queen, while a "smoldering pile of garbage sitting behind the gym" was elected king. Really. That what was scribbled on the 'write-in' ballots.) But there was never any evidence that proved it. The only crimes he was ever apprehended for were petty theft and being disruptive in class.

Though Mrs. Richter always found herself more than disappointed with Reno, she seemed to have some hope for poor little Cloud. "Cloud, I am not one to point fingers. But when student… 'rumors' sway toward one unanimous opinion, then it's hard not to agree with them. So, I'm not trying to blame your brother for anything, but I must say that he is a usual suspect in many…wrongdoings at this campus. Do you agree?"

"Uh, I guess." Though Mrs. Richter had spoke to him rather condescendingly, he still answered accordingly. 

"You yourself never try to emulate Reno's actions, do you, Cloud?"

"No. The stuff he does is stupid."

"Indeed. So Cloud, do you feel that you are the more…'sensible' one?" 

Cloud assented, nodding. "I guess I am less of a headache-causer to my mom that he is."

"Why, he's the ass cream to my hemorrhoid, Mrs. Richter," said a voice.

Cloud froze. He didn't have to turn around. He didn't have to make sure that was his brother's sarcastic drawl. He didn't have to see him standing in the doorframe with that mischievous look on his face. Cloud just knew. With Reno, he never had to double check. 

Mrs. Richter looked equally surprised; she watched incredulously as Reno strode across the room and plopped himself in the seat beside his brother. Cloud slowly glanced over at him. He was wearing his usual trench coat over his jungle green army fatigues and a crumpled button-down blue short sleeve. He greeted Cloud with a goofy smirk, waving an ink-stained hand at his younger brother. Cloud rolled his eyes contemptuously in reply.

"So what's goin' down, Mrs. Richter?" Reno asked casually, "How're the kids?" 

"They're doing well, Reno," she answered, regaining her composure (as well as her toothy smile). But she didn't seem to have as warm a manner towards Reno as she had towards Cloud. "Might I ask what you're doing in here today? Did you argue with Mr. Hagen again?"

"Ah, nothing of the sort, ma'am. Just thought I'd drop by and say hello, ask about the family, check if my brother's been assigned a psychological disorder yet."

Her smile did not waver. "And why would you need to do that, Reno?"

Reno grinned too, as if he were at a party or something. It was a standoff of grins. "No reason, really. I'm just concerned for his welfare." Cloud snorted amusedly at this.

"I'm glad that you're concerned for _someone's_ welfare, Reno." There was definitely some sharp tension there. She decided to say nothing further to him, instead turning to Cloud, intent on continuing her questioning. "So Cloud, you were saying that you _never_ imitate your brother here?"

Cloud hesitated again. He glanced over at Reno, who was busy raiding Mrs. Richter's candy jar. The scarlet head seized no fewer than six gumballs and shoveled the whole lot into his mouth, chomping on it contentedly. Mrs. Richter again watched him with disapproval. Cloud chose to answer "no" to the question, after finally deciding that Reno was too distracted to care about this little interview.

"So you feel that you are reasonable," she stated, "however, you had decided to set fire to Mrs. Sheldon's hamster?"

This accusation brought Cloud on the offensive again. "Hey, I told you I didn't do it!"

"Well who did? Certainly not Mrs. Sheldon!"

"Burnt match," said Reno calmly.

"What?"

"Burnt match." He had spat out the gum into his hand, and before allowing Mrs. Richter her 'ugh-of-disgust' time, he said, "Wonky's cage is right next to the trash can in Mrs. Sheldon's room. Cloud said that they were doing a calorie calculation lab, which would require the use of a Bunsen burner to light the chips and crackers. To light the burner, you need a match. When class was over, one of the stray matches most likely fell into Wonky's cage, slowly lighting the cage's hay and sawdust on fire. Wonky caught on fire and was getting cremated when Cloud walked into the room." The wad of gum flew back into his mouth, and Reno sat back, chewing once more.

Neither of the two spoke. They only stared at Reno, who continued to chew his gum indifferently. 

"Reno," Mrs. Richter finally said, "just how do you know all of this?"

The teen merely nodded towards Cloud, as if to say, "Ask him yourself."

Mrs. Richter looked over at Cloud, who sat with a confused look on his face. "Cloud," she asked patiently, though she didn't bother with the smile, "did you all do a lab yesterday?" He nodded. "And did this lab require the use of a match?" Another nod. "And…is Wonky's cage always situated next to the trash can?" Nod. "So you…believe that your brother's theory is a probable cause?"

Hell yes, he did. It took him off the hook, didn't it? "It's possible."

She shook her head. "That may be true, however, I will be reconfirming these facts with Mrs. Sheldon. Now, you are free to leave," Cloud looked at her eagerly, "but first I will need you to answer this career questionnaire for me. You were absent when everyone else took it." The excited countenance on Cloud's face fell. "Don't worry, this won't take long."

No, these things took forever, especially when a freaking counselor was intent on verbally asking you every single question on the sheet. How funny that she picked now of all times to have him fill it out.

"Now let's see," her eyes skimmed over the questionnaire. "On a scale of one to five, one being low and five being high, how would you rate your work ethic?"

"Uh…four, I guess."

"We'll put a three down, just to be safe." From what, Cloud didn't know. "Are you interested in any sort of machinery, Cloud? The choices are 'yes', 'no', and 'a little'."

His brow furrowed. "How the hell can you be interested in machinery?"

"Sexually, maybe, like a vibrator," Reno commented, picking out more gum from the jar and squeezing it into the already bulging mass of rubber in his mouth.

"Cloud, you know perfectly well what I'm talking about," Mrs. Richter said shortly, shooting another evil eye at Reno. "Are you interested in working with machinery?"

"Oh. Uh…I guess not really."

"'A little' it is, then." As she bubbled the responses in, her smile started blooming again.

"Why don' yoo jus 'ill dis out yourself?" Reno asked incoherently through a mouth full of gum. "Yoo 'no all de answers."

Mrs. Richter ignored him. "Cloud, do you enjoy helping people?"

"…Not when forced to."

"'Yes', then. Are you interested in farming or agriculture?"

"Neither."

"Do you enjoy working with animals?"

"Uh, I did like playing with my dog before she-"

"That will be a yes, then…now, do you have….an…interest in…the inner…workings…of…" She trailed off after that. A gaze of absolute revulsion had overcome her face, and it was directed toward Reno. Cloud looked over at him.

Reno's tongue was enveloped in a thin, rubbery white layer of gum. The tongue had taken a long, straight shape, and it passed in and out of his mouth slowly, in and out continuously through the 'o' he made with his thumb and forefinger, held in front of his mouth. Cloud had seen his brother do this all the time at home, so it didn't really bother him. But of course Mrs. Richter watched this little 'demonstration' with utter disgust; she was completely sickened by it. The look on her face actually suggested that she was watching the 'real thing' take place right in her office. 

"Reno," she started, taking up a firm tone. "Reno, please stop that."

But he wouldn't stop. 

"Reno. May I ask why you are doing that?"

But of course Reno didn't want to stop his fun just to _explain _his actions. Instead he glanced over at Cloud, silently passing the task on to him. Cloud sighed, shaking his head. This was ridiculous. He didn't want to do this. And not in the counselor's office, of all places. But at last he conceded, clearing his throat to divert the woman's attention. "Mrs. Richter, he's trying to blow a bubble."

"He is not. Reno, stop at once."

"He's not good at blowing bubbles, so he um…keeps trying."

"Cloud, you _know_ that he is not trying to blow a bubble!" She was practically yelling now. "He is performing a very _vulgar_ gesture! It is rude, it is offensive, and I want you to cease at once, Reno!"

In and out. In and out. Reno was having fun.

"Reno…" she continued. "Reno, stop!"

But oh no, he was just getting started. Now came the sound effects, reverberating through Reno's nasal cavity and emitting from his nose; nasty, vulgar moans and groans that grew louder and louder as the tongue slid in and out, in and out, faster and faster and faster. In and out, in and out, moan, moan, moan, in and out, in and out…and at last, culminating in a final, climactic-

"RENO STRIFE, GET OUT OF MY OFFICE, NOW!"

The woman had jumped to her feet, emptying her lungs to deliver this stark order. Her eyes were burning with rage. Her smile long diminished from her face. Calmly, Reno ceased, withdrawing his tongue back into his mouth. He stood up slowly, hocking a gigantic loogie of rubber into the trash. "Whatever you want, Mrs. Richter." He started making his way to the door. "I'll just be waiting out-" 

"No!" Mrs. Richter yelled. "You will _not _wait outside, you will take your brother _and _this survey home, and you will fill it out by yourselves so that I won't have to sit here watching that…that crude gesticulation! Get out of my office, both of you, now!"

The brothers Strife were at the door in an instant, Cloud exiting first while his brother paused at the doorway to shoot one last arrogant smirk at the seething woman. Outside, various secretaries and teachers had started long-necking over Reno's head, anxious to see just what they had long been waiting for: the raging eruption of the long dormant wrath of Mrs. Richter. They anticipated its eruption every single time Reno entered that office, and it had all culminated in this. It certainly didn't disappoint. Watching the perpetually perky woman pulling her hair out and bursting into a screaming fit was a sight well worth the wait. 

Reno finally shut the door, allowing the staffers to watch the eruption through the glass pane in the door. Unruffled by all the commotion, he quietly led Cloud out of the office, still grinning.

"Well, that got us out of there," said Cloud, falling in step beside his brother, "but you've definitely got detention for the rest of the semester. What was the point?"

Reno suddenly halted in the middle of the hallway, turning to his brother with a brow furrowed in disbelief. "Cloud, when I go to all the trouble of setting a hamster on fire just to get your uptight ass into that bitch's office, then yeah, there's obviously a point." 

And he resumed his stride, making his way towards the exit.

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R/R, please.


	2. Teenage Dirtbag

2. Teenage Dirtbag

Cloud was off the hook. The burnt match theory was decided to be a probably cause of Wonky's untimely demise. Reno, of course, was not off the hook. He never was, if the school administrators at Sector Six High could help it. He did receive in-school suspension as well as a week of detention after that, but he didn't really seem to care much about it. Everyone else did, though. It was all anyone would ask Cloud about the next day.

"That is just so awesome," his friend said of the incident, as they sat in the library during lunch. "Guys' got balls."

The lanky boy sitting across from him and Cloud agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "Seriously. I know you don't like me saying this, Cloud, but Reno is just the_ man._"

"The man in detention, you mean," Cloud corrected irritably.

The two boys who sat with Cloud couldn't have made a more mismatched pair of friends. Zack Kurozaki, a boy with a broad, charming sort of smile and dark spiked hair that rivaled that of Cloud's, sat at one side of the table, occasionally sneaking a few chips from his gym bag when the librarian wasn't looking. Cloud and Zack had first met in junior high, when Zack, a native Gongagan, had moved to town with his little brother and sister to stay with their aunt and uncle. His parents were under the impression that Zack and his siblings would acquire a better education in Midgar than they would in Gongaga. Of course, this turned out to be wrong once they started attending classes at the rundown sector six schools. Nevertheless, the kids decided to stay in Midgar, having grown used to city life.

Across from Zack sat a lanky, comparatively less handsome kid, Reeve Arkanian. Reeve was Cloud's first best friend; the latter had many a time rescued the former from schoolyard bullying in the third grade. And really, who could resist picking on him? Reeve was one of those skinny, passive dorks whose pimply face sported more craters than Mt. Nibel. Now given, Reeve could be a fun guy to hang around sometimes; he was certainly a witty kid. But, he had his quirks. All the time he would be fiddling around with various gadgets and robots. These little inventions of his would have all sorts of strange and absolutely useless functions, like a _banana_ peeler, or a Pig Latin translator, or a high-speed nose hair clipper (Zack was the unfortunate test subject). Reeve's latest project, the one he was working on right now under the table, was a miniature remote controlled chocobo that could fly around the room. It seemed to be a lot more practical than most of his other inventions, but why, out of all the animals in the world, he chose a chocobo was lost on Cloud and Zack.

"So Cloud," Reeve started, tightening a loose screw in the remote, "did Reno tell you why he decided to piss Mrs. Richter off?"

"No, of course not." Not directly, at least. "It's ridiculous; he really didn't get anything out of it except for a few kicks."

"Isn't that his reason for doing anything?" asked Zack, who was looking through some letters from his parents. One of the photos fell out, revealing that his baby sister, Sandra, was already up and out of the crib, running amok in the Kurozakis' kitchen.

"Yeah, it is," said Cloud. "He's such an idiot."

"The bitch is gone!" said Reeve, diving under the table for the chips. But Zack snatched it away, chuckling and watching Reeve bumble around on the floor, rapaciously trying to get at the food. They fought playfully for a while until Cloud kicked both of them warningly; the librarian, at her desk, had once again taken notice of the two screwing around and had thrown them a threatening look. Giggling stupidly, the two boys climbed back into their seats.

"You guys are retarded," Cloud told them.

"Hey, we're hungry!" Reeve defended. "We need to get our daily fill of fat and cholesterol, you know. I want nice big thunder thighs by the time I'm thirty. Or a beer belly. Those things are _real_ sexy."

Zack frowned in disgust. "Ugh. Thanks for the image, Reeve."

"Anytime."

"If you want to get fat," Cloud said, "why don't you eat a tub of lard? It's faster."

"I would, but the chips are cheese flavored, unlike the lard." He pointed out, tossing a few chips into his mouth.

Cloud reached over for some too, looking over his shoulder to make sure the librarian wasn't watching. But right away his head snapped forwards again, a surprised anxiety overcoming his wide blue eyes. Uneasily, he attempted to hide his shock, nibbling at his chip and chewing it with unnatural slowness.

But Zack and Reeve couldn't be fooled. Both boys exchanged looks, grinning. "Ah, you saw her, didn't you?" Zack said.

"Saw who?" He tried to ask this with as much feigned obliviousness as possible, but his delivery…well, it really sucked.

"Don't be a numbnuts, Cloud, we had a good clear view of Tifa waltzing into the library behind ya."

Yes, it was Tifa. Tifa Lockheart. Just like Reno, he didn't need more than a glance to confirm her presence, her lush dark hair bouncing behind her shoulders, her girlish stride as she entered the library. And now he concentrated his gaze elsewhere, fearing getting caught watching her. Reeve smirked amusedly. Cloud had had a crush on his next door neighbor for as long as Reeve could remember; he knew full well that the thing Cloud craved most in this world was Tifa's attention. Everything else about his feelings Cloud could easily from his friends, but everything about his infatuation with Tifa was pretty much tattooed on his face. While Reeve always sat there grinning smugly, Zack would always start encouraging Cloud.

"Come on man, why don't you talk to her?" he asked. "She's just a girl. She's not gonna bite your face off."

"Yeah, but uh…she doesn't um…know me."

Zack shook his head. Sometimes, he just couldn't believe this guy. "You freaking live next door to her! She's in your class, dick! Come on, just go, say hi! Ask for the time or something, or how her cheerleading is going, or-"

"-What the velocity of a southern swallow is!" Reeve interrupted, unable to keep from being facetious for one second, even during Zack's little 'man-to-man' chat. "I could compare it to my robo-chocobo," he teased.

Zack shot him an exasperated 'Dude, you're an idiot,' look. "Come on Cloud, go say hi."

The blond hesitated, but still managed to disappoint him. "…Tell your Mom to say hi." He retorted feebly.

"Aw, _geez_…"

"Look, just why are you so interested anyway?" Cloud inquired, deciding to sneak a glance behind. Tifa was browsing the Biographies section, notebook in hand as her finger traveled along the rows of book spines. She was apparently working on her history project. "Are you a romantic or something? Do you play matchmaker often?"

"No, but I'll play soccer with your face if you ever accuse me of that ever again." Zack said shortly. "Anyway, it's really nothing, nothing at all. It's just that…you two are a feasible couple."

"'_Feasible?_' What's that supposed to mean?" Reeve interrupted.

"It's defined as 'possible' or 'realistic' in the dictionary, but in this case, it means that Cloud and Tifa would probably make a good couple," he said, though both Reeve and Cloud could tell that this half-assed little explanation was not what Zack really meant. "I mean, Cloud's sort of a jock, and then Tifa's sort of a cheerleader, so…you know…"

"Amazing." Reeve commented. "Never pinned you as a person who stereotypes, Zack. So since I'm the token 'geek', will I stay a virgin till I found my own software company, get filthy rich, and marry seven scandalous whores?"

"Not if I don't wring your neck first." Zack snapped. "Okay okay, so the jock-cheerleader thing was a bad reason. What I meant was that I think that Cloud and Tifa would er…_understand_ each other more than other couples."

"Heh. Right. Youthink that they'd make a _cute_ couple," said Reeve.

"I never said that."

"Much is implied through actions."

"Who are you, a village elder? I explicitly did not say the word 'cute'."

"Well, come on, who calls a couple 'feasible'?! Technically, all couples are feasible! Have you read any of that crappy fan stuff on the internet?"

"Would you two shut up?" Cloud whispered crossly. He glanced over at Tifa again, a dispirited countenance overcoming him as he watched. "Look who she's talking to." They looked.

Tifa was talking to Sephiroth Hojo. A tall, already well-built junior with long silvery hair tied back in a knot, he was actually smiling a little as he asked her about her assignment. Seph even made her laugh, apparently saying something funny as he glanced through the shelves, picking out a book for her.

Cloud awaited with baited breath as he watched them talking, wondering when he was going to leave. But they continued chatting. Of course, why not? Why wouldn't you stop and take the time to carry a conversation with a guy like Seph? Besides being the big man on campus, he was the star quarterback and center on the football and basketball teams, respectively. He was also an all A student, and despite being a bit reserved at times, was very popular with most of the upperclassmen. It really was a rarity for him to stop and chat with a Freshman like Tifa.

Which was what made Cloud so uptight about it. He knew that Reeve and Zack were watching his desperation right now, commenting to each other on how stupid he was being. He really wasn't paying attention, but he caught something like "he's being a big wuss about the whole thing and taking it too seriously" come out of Zack's mouth. At any rate, he didn't give a damn about what they said. That's what friends were for. To give you advice that you'd never take. He did, however, care about what Reno would say about the situation: _'Come on, sport, why else would Seph talk to her? Because he wants to get in her pants. Don't need a big neon sign for that.' _Cloud made a note to himself not to talk to Reno about this, or anything else pertaining to his 'love life', if you could call it that. Not that he ever did have any personal brotherly chats with him, but all the same, he made the note just in case he had a sudden lapse of sanity.

Because that's exactly what Tifa did to him. She made him lose his wits every time he saw her.

----------------------------------------------------

"MOM! We're home!!"

For some reason, Reno thought that repeatedly ringing a doorbell while simultaneously inserting his key into the front door was not a sufficient enough way to get his mother's attention. He had to scream at the top of his lungs when he got in, prompting Cloud to quickly close the door behind him every time. But you couldn't say that it wasn't effective. Mrs. Strife, a perpetually overwhelmed, weary-looking woman, was always down to meet her sons within a few seconds of their arrival.

"Honey," she started, rubbing her temples, "would you mind not doing that?"

"Sure thing," he answered, kissing her cheek. He dropped his books on the couch and, without delay, made his way to the refrigerator.

"And well? Have you been staying on your teacher's good side?" Unconsciously she bent her back forwards a bit, so that her other son could greet her. But then she noticed Cloud awkwardly having to crane forward as well, instead of tiptoeing up to kiss her cheek. After the kiss she stood back astounded, motioning for him to stand up straight, so she could admire his sudden growth spurt. It almost seemed like it had happened overnight. Cloud, meanwhile, rolled his eyes. It almost seemed like his mother marveled at his increasing height every day. It was only about an inch and a half more compared to the beginning of the school year.

"Yes, I've been a good little boy," Reno answered, emerging from the open fridge with several multi-layered sandwiches and a bottle of cola. "Didn't give anyone any mental breakdowns today."

"Well, you gave me a headache will all that noise you brought in earlier. Do you know what kind of day I had at the office today? Three meetings for Mr. Douglas, all before noon. It was a nightmare. And my god, look at the time! It's already five and I haven't even been to see Mrs. Weatherby for those pots and that dress I lent her." She sighed. Such was the life of a perpetually busy widow. "Could you boys make do with sandwiches for dinner?"

"Already on it," said Reno, plopping down on the couch with his food.

"I'm fine with that," said Cloud.

She was picking up her purse and jacket now. "Good. I should be back in…45 minutes, maybe? An hour if the station's crowded."

"We'll be fine, Mom."

After she left, Cloud wandered over to the fridge soon discovering that Reno had taken the last of the ham. Not in the mood to yell, Cloud settled for the leftover tuna casserole from two nights before and a glass of water.

"Gee, I like how you didn't leave anything for me," he said sarcastically as he sat down on the couch.

He saw that Reno was watching 'Midgar's Funniest Home Videos'. That might have been why he didn't bother to answer; there was a girl on who had just ripped her pants while bending down to pick up something, and he sniggered a bit at that.

Cloud shook his head, deciding to start on his food.

"Why are you so distracted?" Reno asked, his eyes still focused on the TV.

"Huh?"

"What's up with you? You're like, distracted."

"It's because you ate all the food, idiot."

"No, not that." Reno looked over at him. "When we were walking home you weren't bitching at me when I started throwing rocks at that old guy's house. Or when his dog started chasing us. Then you didn't tell me to shut up before we entered the house. And then you didn't really whine or raise that much hell when I emptied the fridge. So what's on your mind?"

Cloud furrowed his brow at him cynically. "Why do _you_ care?"

"Well, maybe I'm concerned about you. Ever think of that?"

"Maybe _you_ should shove it. Ever think of that?" Cloud mocked.

Reno, sensing that he was beating around a dead horse, turned back to the TV. "Hey, if you don't want to talk about your little problems, then fine by me."

Cloud was about to ask Reno how he knew that he had a problem, but decided not to, thinking that he would answer with something like "I didn't. You just told me." and that he would say it in his usual, wannabe cool way of his. He did that every time Cloud started acting moody. Well, moodier than usual. That was sort of their 'sitcom' gimmick. Cloud was moody. Reno was insane. Could two different brothers live in the same house without driving each other crazy?

Somehow they did. For the most part, each had his own agenda and really didn't bother the other, though Reno was prone to seizing opportunities to embarrass him in one way or another at school. He was tamer at home, most likely because of their mother. She was one of the only people whom Reno genuinely gave a damn about, and (most of the time) he helped her around the house a lot to make up for all the trouble he caused at school. Sometimes he resorted to stealing groceries for her, and usually threatened Cloud with bodily injury if he told on him. You could sort of call it Reno's 'noble' side.

Cloud stood up, and went into the kitchen again, emptying the rest of the rancid casserole into the trash, taking a few pieces of bread from the counter for his dinner instead. He was about to ascend the stairs when an sudden impulse came over him.

"Reno?"

"What."

"How did you know that I had a problem?"

"I didn't. You just told me."

Cloud started up the stair, shaking his head. "Asshole."

--------------------------------------------------------

The next day Cloud found himself waiting at Zack's locker, pressing Zack to hurry up and finish getting his books. Reeve stood behind him, giggling for some reason, while Zack kept kicking him, saying that he was a "distraction." How Reeve's giggling was a distraction was beyond Cloud, because he knew that it didn't really take much concentration to look for a history paper in a locker. So he had some clear indication that something was wrong with this picture.

"Just what are you guys up to?" Cloud asked suspiciously.

Zack's head popped out from inside of his locker. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I don't know, you both seem to be acting."

"What, acting weird?" said Reeve.

"No, just acting. Horribly. It doesn't take that long to salvage a history paper, Zack, especially out of your impeccably clean locker."

The two exchanged grins. "No, I guess it doesn't," said Zack, shutting the door. "But it does take a while to wait for an opportunity."

This instantly puzzled Cloud. "What?"

And without any warning, Reeve and Zack's hands darted out and shoved Cloud backwards, hard. He bumped into the person behind him, the backs of their heads colliding as he fell. Cloud stuck a foot back to regain his balance, his hand clutching his head as he turned to apologize.

"Geez, I'm so sorry, I-" he stopped.

It was Tifa. Those bastards.

He tried starting again with some difficulty. "Tifa, I uh, I didn't mean to…er…" He sort of trailed off awkwardly from there, but he had enough sense to get down to help Tifa pick up her books. She smiled at him thankfully, though Cloud couldn't help but notice that she had started rubbing the back of her head, where the bruise was.

"It's okay, Cloud," she said reassuringly. "Did you trip or something?"

He looked back after Zack and Reeve who had at this time gotten their cowardly asses halfway down the hall. "You could say that. Um, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I take it that Zack and Reeve were playing a little prank on you?"

Cloud chuckled slightly. "Little prank is understating it. More like sabotage, if you ask me." He was doing surprisingly well so far. He wasn't stuttering or losing his voice or anything.

Tifa laughed. "So I suppose they're in for an ass-kicking after school?"

"You know it."

She ran her fingers through her hair now, checking the hall clock. Cloud noticed, and sort of panicked. "I guess you'll have to go now?" he blurted out. God, that sounded stupid.

"In a minute, I guess," she said, "but I wanted to ask you something first."

"Um, you did?"

"Yeah, listen, are you going to the Battle of the Bands over by sector 3 Friday night?"

No, but he would if Tifa would. "Er…yeah. Of course."

"Really?" She was curious now. Was she gonna ask to go with him? "Are you supporting anyone out there? I've got a friend who plays bass for the Beetlebums."

'_Okay, okay, okay, who's playing Friday night?!'_ He asked himself frantically. Cloud quickly raked his mind, trying to remember what it said on that flyer he saw on his locker. "Er…" Who was that band? They had a weird name, something like- "The Slow Country! Yeah, uh, they're my favorite local band."

"Yeah? They've got a great sound. Fun to mosh to, huh? I love all that syncopation they use in their songs."

"Yes. It's awesome." He had no earthly idea as to what she talking about. But he told himself: smile and nod. Smile and nod.

But she looked like she was getting ready to go. "So…I guess I'll see you on Friday, huh?"

Well, that did it. She was just asking if he was going, nothing more. Dejected, he answered ambiguously. "Uh, yeah. I'll see you."

"Try to find me though, then we can hang out, you know?"

Cloud cheered up slightly. "Er, okay! Sure."

"Bye Cloud!" She smiled at him once more, and then walked past him to English.

"Yeah…bye…" He said, sort of waving at her.

The bell rang, and he stood in the middle of an abandoned hallway. He thought of going to class. But then his eye caught a neon green flyer on the wall. Quickly he seized it.

The Beetlebums, the Slow Country, To the End…Screw his Algebra test, he was going to memorize all of these damn band names. After all, he had till Friday, didn't he?

-----------------------------------------------

A/N: I feel I have to address something, even though it hasn't been brought up. When I said I'd be taking a lot of license with this story…I didn't mean with like, yaoi or anything. So all you BarretXRed XIII or HeidiggerXa toaster fans have to go somewhere else if you want your twisted little fix. Besides, this is high school.

Anyway, the band names all come from real songs written by Damon Albarn fronted bands: Blur and Gorillaz.

Ah-choo: Um, inspiration? Crystal meth. Lots and lots of crystal meth. Actually, I guess you could say FLCL. Go figure, eh? I barely even understand that show. But there are a bunch of other influences in here. Mostly TV or movies.


	3. Drunkenly sober

A/N: Wow, this chapter's long. I guess it makes up for the fact that this'll be the last update for a while; maybe a chapter during Easter (oh excuse me, the SPRING HOLIDAY), but don't hold your breath. For sure there'll be one in May though. After like, the first week, once I've taken the TAKS and the SAT and the AP and all those acronym tests they'll want me to take.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Drunkenly sober

-------------

__

Will I ever get to where I'm going?

Will I ever follow through with what I had planned?

I guess it's possible that I have been a bit distracted

And the directions for me are a lot less in demand.

Will I ever get to where I'm going?

If I do, will I know when I am there?

If the wind blew me in the right direction

Would I even care?

I would.

-Nowhere Fast, Incubus

-------------

After properly raising enough hell over the prank, Cloud calmed down enough to ask Zack and Reeve to go with him to the Battle of the Bands Friday night. Not surprisingly, both boys just stood there staring at him, hesitating to respond out of suspicion that it was just a cunningly disguised trick of payback. Of course, they were really giving Cloud too much credit. Eventually Zack confessed that he and his siblings were going to visit Gongaga for the weekend. But he did clearly tell them to expect a call from him on Saturday to find out what happened with Tifa. If anything _was_ going to happen. 

That left Reeve, who was not too thrilled about having to sneak out of the house behind his father's back. See, Mr. Arkanian was a dictator. Not for a living, of course, just as a hobby. And no, playing dictator did _not_ involve the use of a military uniform, a whip, and kinky leather. It involved Mr. Arkanian constantly barking orders and criticisms at the submissive Reeve, telling him to stop wasting his time with gadgets and to take up a sport or to do chores or something. Mr. Arkanian often said that it instilled character in his son; Cloud and Zack knew that it did just the opposite. But despite his fears, Reeve eventually did agree to come, informing Cloud that he owed him "very much big time" for this. 

Friday night Cloud made some last-minute preparations for his first concert. Having memorized all of the names of the band on tonight's venue Cloud had found out that all of them were either punk and/or metal bands. As a result he decided to properly dress for the occasion. So once Reno left the house to commit whatever hooligan crimes he and his friends had planned for the night, Cloud took the liberty of raiding his brother's closet. But nothing really appealed to him; the black shirts with the clever little messages ("How many vegetables had to die for your stupid salad?!") on them really weren't his thing, and he figured that the pants with dozens of chains dangling from the pockets were probably a safety hazard. Finally Cloud settled on his own black shirt, cargos, and combat boots, borrowing only Reno's shabby yet "punkish" military jacket. 

They took the train down to Sector 3's Elwood Park, and in within a half an hour the two found themselves in the middle of a dangerously rowdy mosh pit smelling of pot smoke, alcohol, foul sweat, and who knew what else. Cloud wouldn't abandon his place in the crowd, though. He would repeatedly jump up and down appearing as if was moshing, but his motive in doing this was to scan the crowd for Tifa. It wasn't until Reeve yanked him by the shirt and forcibly pushed his way out of the unruly pit that they got out. It was an uncharacteristic move for Reeve; but then again, it was uncharacteristic for him to be roaming around all the fetid, dank, and unbelievably aggressive people swarming around him. Cloud did start to feel pretty bad for having dragged his friend to an event like this. Zack would have enjoyed all the thrashing about, but Reeve was definitely not having _any_ fun.

"You wanna go get some water or something, Reeve?" Cloud yelled over the all the noise, feeling sorry for him.

"Well I don't know, have the people who run this pig pen pissed in it?" He replied sarcastically. Someone bumped into him from behind; a shirtless tattooed rocker reeking with the smell of throw up. Mumbling something that sounded like an apology, he stumbled past the two boys, Reeve looking after him with disgust.

Cloud scratched his head. "Look, I'm really sorry man. I didn't know it would be this..crazy. If you want to go home then I'll under-"

"No." Reeve answered firmly, making sure to look Cloud right in the eye. "You find Tifa first, make out with her, propose to her, whatever, and _then_ get the hell out of here. That's the plan."

Cloud stared at the scrawny boy getting shoved around in every direction by the unruly moshers around him, impressed by the guy's steadfastness despite these uncomfortable circumstances. "You're sure?"

"Listen, I'm not going to abandon you in the middle of this orgy, okay? Besides, I've lived in the slums since I was a kid. I'm used to shitty places like this."

A grin appeared on Cloud's face as he followed his friend out. "Thanks for being loyal, Reeve."

"Yeah well, I won't be loyal for long if you don't hurry up with this whole matter of yours. But let's go get some air first and then dive back in, eh?"

They did so, deciding to stop by the concession stand for drinks. And though Reeve's suspicions of the water turned out to be false, he really couldn't say the same about the soda.

"Do you know that this stuff is crap?" Reeve asked the vendor.

"I know it better than anyone, man," the junkie vendor replied. "Not our fault, though. Factory's based in Junon, and the 'fresher' shipments are usually shipped to the upper plate first. By the time the cheap batches get down here they're flatter than your little sister's chest."

Reeve pointed out that he didn't have a little sister, but the guy had inexplicably started rocking his head violently to the music. The boys exchanged looks and Cloud shrugged, motioning for his friend to follow him out of the crowd. They climbed up top of an old school bus, where a few couples had chosen to make out. With everyone too preoccupied to give them permission to sit, Cloud and Reeve went ahead and sat on the edge, their legs dangling over the side of the bus. 

"Hey Reeve," Cloud said, as he started to scan the crowd, looking for Tifa, "you could invent a soda re-carbonator. It'd be useful, and lucrative, too. No more would the people of the slums have to suffer drinking stale soda."

For some reason, Reeve took offense at this. "Because when you're impoverished and dying of malnutrition, you should at least have some soda with fizz to drink," he answered with bitter derision. "Yeah, that's what I'll do with my inventions. Solve all the insignificant problems of the slums with gadgets, huh? Yeah, that'll _really_ change the world."

Cloud took his eyes off of the crowd for a moment to give Reeve a confused look. "Hey, I wasn't trying to insult you or anything. I was just joking, I wasn't talking about changing the world or anything like that."

The dimming and blinking of the lights onstage were enough to reveal the slightly reddish, conspicuously embarrassed hue suddenly growing on Reeve's face. He shook his head uncomfortably. "Ah…nevermind. Forget I said anything." He took a sip of his stale soda.

Soon Cloud was once again engrossed in his search for Tifa. He was scanning the floor crowd, sort of bobbing his head to the music as he did so. He really wasn't into rock or anything, but when your ears were being flooded by a torrent of bouncy guitar rhythms, then you were kind of inclined to rock out just a little.

As chaotic as the atmosphere was, it didn't really amuse Cloud. Save for the fact that he was searching feverishly for Tifa, he was pretty bored. He could tell that Reeve was too. They weren't having any fun whatsoever, even when they were down in the mosh pit getting assaulted by everyone else. Well, that was annoying more than anything, but still. You'd think that engaging in an almost ritualistic act of jumping and banging into people would have some enjoyment value. Disappointed, Cloud yawned. And Reno had always said that these concerts were fun as hell.

"Rock and fuckin roll, bastards!!"

Oh god. Reno.

He stumbled into the Elwood Park with all his usual airs, exaggerated by the fact that he was drunk out of his mind. In tow were his buddies, Elena, Pete, and Biggs, all almost as smashed as Reno was. Elena seemed to be the most sober of the four, which didn't surprise Cloud; she usually exercised far more self-control than her boisterous cronies did. 

Truthfully, Reno's friends were part of the audience more often than they were of the show. Reno was his own riot. He caused enough havoc without the assistance of his friends who, after realizing this themselves, usually stood aside superfluously, cheering him on and occasionally vandalizing buildings and vendors stands. Presently Reno was busy storming his way through the crowd to the pit area, readily shoving teenagers in every direction out of his way as if clearing a path through an overgrown jungle. 

Cloud shook his head at the sight, sighing heavily. Reno was going to get arrested. Sure, after he started that anarchic little riot he was obviously trying to start, someone would get hurt, and sooner or later, security would step in. Reno would be too drunk to know to get the hell out of there, and so would his friends. So who was going to have to save the day? 

Cloud, of course. Poor, sober Cloud. He had to be the one with a brain. He sighed again, watching his brother screaming along to the music down there like a maniac. What was the occasion for the heavy intoxication tonight, he wondered?

"Well, your brother's gotten drunk before without getting caught by the police, right?" Reeve said, after Cloud had told him his prediction for the night. "Elena or one of Reno's other friends have got to have some wits left to get out of here safely, right?" 

This seemed possible. Cloud never did know how Reno was always able to get home late at night, his breath reeking of inebriation, without getting arrested. But then again, Cloud never remembered Reno being this drunk before.

"Don't worry about it so much, Cloud. Your brother most likely knows what he's doing."

--------------------------------------------------

Four minutes and thirty seven seconds later, the mosh area had turned into everything short of hell on earth. 

Reno couldn't even wait five whole minutes before inciting chaos. It was a drunken punch-up of mud slinging, hair pulling, every-man-for-himself mayhem. Bottles and trash flying around this way and that like a mad swarm of bees. Every instrument onstage broken, kicked-in, or ceremoniously set on fire, Hendrix style. Band members maniacally stage diving and disappearing into the storming seas of deranged people below.

Cloud and Reeve had slid off of the bus by now, ducking behind several porta-johns, out of the way of the crazed mob. At the moment they were camped out under an equipment truck, mere yards away from the stage. This didn't keep them away from danger, though; every now and then some sort of bottle or projectile would come flying in their general direction. Cloud scowled every time he had to duck his head back under the truck. He was thoroughly pissed by the whole situation. "Reeve, never speak of my brother being a person who knows what he's doing ever again."

"Done," he agreed, recoiling behind a tire as a stoned young couple staggered by, stopping by a garbage can to suck face. "But now what are we supposed to do?" He whispered.

"Well, from what I see, we have three options." Cloud counted off his fingers. "One, we can stay under here till morning. But in all likelihood, we'll probably be dead by then. So two, we can get out, pick up a flaming instrument, and run out into battle screaming 'FREEDOM!' at the top of our lungs." He shrugged at seeing Reeve's furrowed brow. "If you can't beat em, join em. Anyway, three, we can sneak out of here, find my brother, and take him home."

Reeve waited for more. "…That's it?"

"Yeah. Why, you got any other ideas?"

"Actually, I was waiting for the option in which we got the hell out of here, got back home, and then went to the coroner's office in the morning to identify your brother's body."

Cloud snorted. "That'd be nice, I'll admit that. But you _do_ know which option we're actually going to take, right?"

Reeve frowned. Looking defeated, popped his head out from under, glancing around. After a brief moment he ducked back in, shaking his head in disappointment. "Okay, okay, I guess we'll have to get the guy. I saw him over in the pit with Pete and Biggs, so I guess we'd better hightail it to the stage."

Rolling out from beneath the truck, the boys hurried over to the stage, Reeve fretfully seizing a board lying on the ground and clutching it close, weary of running into more moshers. But by this time the chaos had gotten too out of hand for security to handle, and the cops had barely arrived on the scene. So most of the rioters over by the pit had started to disperse, frantically sprinting off to the exits.

But Reno had to be the dumbass. When Cloud and Reeve got to him, he was busy smashing the life out of an amp with a microphone stand, Pete and Biggs looking on with dazed interest.

"Reno!" Cloud yelled, hurrying over. "Reno, you've gotta get out of here, the cops just got here!"

"Fuc-king-mog-house!" Reno screamed in between whacks of the suffering bass amp. "You-and-your-fucking-nuts!"

"Dude, it's just a game," Pete said, mellowed by the alcohol.

"Yeah," Biggs added, taking a bottle over to Pete, "the mog just wants to fly, man. He _believes _he can fly. He just wants to spread his wings and fly away. Sos you really got to just _chill_, man."

Reno stopped for a moment, out of breath and slurring his speech. "That ain't….that ain't the point, ya know? It's because of-of pimps like that mog that the mog population has freaking skyrocketed. It's-it's wrong, man, just wrong…" And he hiccuped some.

The boys stood there onstage, just not believing any of this. "You _nimrods_," Cloud hissed, "you're going to get arrested, doesn't that matter to you at all?!"

Reno looked over at Cloud, seemingly having noticed him for the first time. "Hey, Cloud. Whas goin' on?"

If the bombardment of blanks ringing out into the crowd didn't reach Cloud's ears at that moment, he swore to god that he would have throttled Reno. Instead the five teens looked over to the vendors area, where dozens of cops were swarming into Elwood Park.

"Ey," Reno said, leaning on the mic stand to keep his balance, "Whozzat?"

"Uhhh, think it's police," Biggs observed, calmly oblivious.

"Ohh. I guess we better leave before they find out I killed this mog, huh?"

Pete and Biggs nodded in agreement, following Reno as he staggered around the stage. Cloud and Reeve exchanged dumbfounded looks. Dumbfounded they shrugged, then followed suit and went off after the teens.

Not far behind the stage was a chain link fence, which all of them (except Reeve) didn't have much trouble scaling. After Reeve had cussed out Reno for having yanked him by the collar over the fence to a nearly concussion-inducing fall, the group now found themselves standing right in front of the heart of the sector 3 concrete jungle: the mako reactor. 

"You know," Reno was saying, "I think we shoulda buried that mog, you know? To like, hide the evidence?"

"Nah man, it's cool," Pete said. "It's like, dark, so they'll never see the body."

"Oh yeah."

The two freshmen watched the intoxicated upperclassmen worriedly. And to think, these idiots would be graduating in June. 

They decided to ignore the older boys' antics. "So if we're at the reactor," said Cloud, glancing over at the looming structure before him, "we should only be about two or three minutes away from the train station, right?"

"I think so," Reeve agreed. "It's only 10:25, so we should be able to make the 10:32 train to sector 6 and get home by-"

It was right about then that Reno had rudely chosen to vomit, right there in the middle of the sidewalk. And he was only about three feet from Reeve, who jumped back away from the spew. That disgusted look the latter had displayed on his face throughout much of his time at the concert returned, but to a greater degree. All the while Biggs and Pete were laughing stupidly. 

Cloud rolled his eyes, grabbing the hunched over Reno by the shoulder. "Ha ha, that was hilarious," he said sardonically. "Are you done, Reno? We've got to go."

A snort from Biggs interrupted Cloud. "Dude, are you serious? He's totally plastered; he hasn't had a chance to stop spinning yet. You take him on that train he'll be blowing chunks all over the place."

Reeve recoiled once again at the thought. Cloud, on the other hand, figured that he'd risk it. But upon second thought, he realized that he shouldn't. It was only 10:30. People were still riding on the trains, and not only would Reno's vomiting call attention to them, it would get them kicked off the train. He sighed. "How long should we wait, then?"

Biggs thought for a minute. Literally, a minute. Cloud then remembered that Reno wasn't the only one who was drunk. "Bout ten minutes should do it," he finally answered.

"_Ten _minutes?!" Reeve interrupted. "The train leaves in five and doesn't get back for thirty! I can't get home that late, my dad will _murder_ me!"

Cloud didn't hesitate. "Then just go on the train Reeve, no one's stopping you."

But Reeve did hesitate, suddenly torn between loyalty and certain doom. He looked over at Cloud standing over his still puking brother. "Are-are you…okay with this?"

"Sure. I need to make sure this lug gets home anyway. But take Pete along with you, so you won't have to ride alone. And watch out for bums and pickpockets while you're riding."

Reeve looked over at Pete, who grinned at him, apparently unaware of what Cloud had said. Reeve shook his head. "Fine then. You're absolutely sure?"

"Reeve…"

"Okay, okay, I'm off. Come on, Petey."

"Huh?"

"Just come on." They departed for the train station, leaving Cloud with only Reno and Biggs to baby-sit now. And as it turned out, Reno _didn't _need ten minutes to recover. He was up and swaggering around again in ten seconds. Cloud rolled his eyes.

"So are you done now?"

"Uhh, just about," Reno answered, sitting on a bench next to Biggs. But then he abruptly put his hand to his mouth again, and, holding his other hand up, he tilted his head to the side and threw up one last time. He sat back up again. "Yep. Now I'm done." Biggs doubled over in hysterics, laughing.

"You are _so_ weird," said Cloud. "Well, you wanna go home now? We can still catch up to Reeve and Pete if we run."

Reno shook his head, his hand traveling over to his pant pocket. "Cloud, my boy, you've got to settle down. Let me and Biggs here just rest a minute, okay? My throat is burning and I'm fucking tired."

"That train is going to leave in three minutes!"

"So we'll catch the next one. Just take it easy for a minute, kid, alright?" Reno's hand fished around in his pocked for a moment, finally pulling out some cigarettes. He offered one to Biggs. 

"So you're just going to sit here and smoke."

He shrugged. "Nothing else to do."

So it was silent for a while, save for the sound of Reno's lighter clicking on and off in the lamplight. Then Biggs abruptly chose to break the stillness. "Hey! Reno, we could play that one game Elena taught us! But what was it called? What was that…"

It was then that Cloud realized who was missing. "Hey Reno, where'd Elena go?"

Reno shrugged. "She's off a blowin' in the wind. She probably ditched us at the concert and-"

An alarm broke out into the night, interrupting Reno and scaring the hell out of Biggs, who fell off of the bench. The ringing seemed to be coming from the reactor, where several security guards had started sprinting down the outside walkways high above.

"It's some kind of security breach," Cloud said, his eyes focused on the reactor. "Guards running around all over the place, lights turning on…there must be an intruder or something."

His words fell on deaf ears: Reno was once again laughing at Biggs sitting on the ground. Cloud was not enjoying being ignored. "Are you two listening? The cops are gonna be down here any minute! This time we have _really_ got to go!"

Reno laughing diminished as Cloud stood by him now, pulling him to his feet. 

"Do you want to get caught?" Cloud asked. "We have to leave, now!"

"Look," Reno started, "I'll leave whenever the _fuck _I want to, and nobody's gonna stand in my way, not even my own…"

He trailed off, because the sound of fast approaching footsteps distracted him. With apprehensive eyes the teens all glanced down the dark street, the sound's source, where a running man emerged, stopping at the edge of the lamplight. Clothes all disheveled, cold sweat staining his shirt; the three instantly knew who he was. Having realized that Cloud, Biggs and Reno weren't cops, the man cautiously approached.

He saw the panic in their eyes. The man glimpsed behind him briefly, the looked back at the teens. "It's okay," he said, "I ain't a cop, I'm not gonna do anything to you."

His figure was more distinct in the light now: dark brown hair, calm yet worn out green eyes, a brawny build. He looked to be in his mid-20s, but he was a few inches shorter than Reno. In his hand he held something, a satchel of some sort.

"What's in the bag?" Reno asked abruptly. Cloud glanced at him, attempting to warn him with a look. But Reno wouldn't acknowledge it.

"I don't think that's your business, kid," the man said, meeting Reno's eye.

"Yeah? Well I fucking live here, don't I? Don't I have a fucking right to know when another one of you fucking terrorists is sneaking around my slums?" 

__

Oh my God, Cloud thought, literally scared stiff. Reno was insane. Drunk and insane and staring down a member of Avalanche, the slums' most notorious terrorist group.

The man smirked slightly. "So you've realized who I am."

"Damn right I have, you tree hugging piece of shit. You're a wanted man."

"That may be so, but I hope you realize that I have no intention of hurting you."

"Well I do." Something fell out of Reno's sleeve into his hand, a switchblade. He flipped it open, audaciously holding up his other hand and beckoning him. "Come on, motha fucka." Reno said with brazen mockery, taking off his coat and discarding it. "Bring it on."

"Reno!" Biggs started, suddenly more scared than drunkenly mellow. "Dude, don't-"

"Fuck off, I can handle this turd. Come on, bitch, let's go."

The man stood there watching Reno. "I'm not going to fight you. You look like you're drunk. Just sit down, kid, relax."

Reno tossed the switchblade from one hand to another, impatience starting to boil his blood. "What fucking difference does it make if I'm drunk or not? Get the hell over here, bastard!"

Cloud had to tell him to stop, had to tell him that he was out of his mind and that he had to-to…to _chill_ out or calm down or something. But his throat choked up. He couldn't move. All he could do was watch and pray for sanity to take over.

The man once again refused. "No. I'm not fighting you. Good bye." And then he made the biggest mistake of his life. He attempted to sidestep past Reno, ignoring him, but like a bolt Reno swung at him, slashing his arm about half an inch deep. The man stepped back, aghast, but Reno came at him again. He was ready though, ducking below and tripping the teen easily. Floored, Reno made several swipes at his opponent, grazing his leg once or twice. Reno jumped up and the man moved back, seizing an empty whiskey bottle off of the ground and smashing the butt on a nearby wall, providing himself with his own weapon.

This was when Cloud finally made a move toward Reno, but Biggs held him back, terrified enough of his own friend to prohibit Reno's little brother from making an attempt to stop him. Cloud watched helplessly as the man now thrust the jagged bottle at Reno's abdomen. Reno bent forward, his lean stomach narrowly missing the weapon's swipes, and struck back at it. The bottle hit Reno's hand, smacking his switchblade right out of his hand. The man saw Reno, now defenseless, and threw the bottle off to the side.

But Reno was still livid, coming at the man with a ready fist. The man caught it, elbowing Reno in the face and kicking him away. Once again Reno charged at him as a bull, fists once again meeting blocking arms and better prepped punches.

Gunfire shot off in the distance now; the man stopping to see while Reno grabbed an empty trash can and took a cheap shot at him. The man stumbled to the ground now, Reno about to kick him when Cloud ran up, pulling his brother back. 

"Reno, stop it, now! You've beat him, now the cops are coming, come on!"

"Fuck off!" He yelled viciously. "Leave me, I need to _finish_ this bastard!"

But Cloud hung on to his shoulder, trying with all his capacity to hold Reno back. It wasn't until a fist connected with Reno's chin that he was able to drag his brother's half-conscious form away from the scene and into an alley across the street behind some dumpsters. Biggs joined them, massaging his hand as he joined them.

"Shit, it's a dead end!" said Cloud, facing concrete brick. "Biggs, did you see any other-"

"Midgar PD, don't move," drawled a voice from the street. Leaving Reno by the wall, Biggs and Cloud hurried over to the dumpster, watching the scene from behind it. Several cops had found the Avalanche man lying on the ground, who stared back at them, dazed. One of them picked him up.

"Looks like somebody else got to our friendly neighborhood terrorist already, eh?"

"Looks like. Where'd your assailant go, mister?" 

He was addressing the terrorist, who spat. "Go to hell."

The cop grinned, then shoved a baton into his stomach. "Haha, you're funny, you know that? Why are you protecting him, mister? He just beat your ass! Besides, the citizens hate you all, so why the hell do you even bother?"

Crimson spit dripped from the man's mouth. "I wouldn't tell you, of all people."

The cop struck him again, this time in the face. "Fucking bastard. Where're those files you stole?" He didn't answer. The cop dropped him to the ground, kicking his side. "Piece of shit, answer me!"

The man managed to smile, sort of smugly, despite his pain. "Burned them."

The cop didn't bother to call him anything. He just started kicking again. And to make it worse, his fellow officers joined in. Kick. Kick. Kick. The assailants ignored the cries of agony coming from their victim. But Cloud could never ignore those cries. He started to feel sick, at the same time still apprehensive of being found. Somehow Cloud couldn't look away; he watched them dish out the torture, silently pleading after every kick for them to stop, because just watching every moment was excruciating. After an eternity they stopped, Cloud certain that the man was dead. But the cops stepped away from the body, which was still breathing shallowly and painfully. 

"So," the cop started, pulling out his gun, "where are the files?"

The man couldn't even answer. Cloud could see the man exhausting every last bit of energy he could find just to continue living through this, just to continue breathing and pumping blood through his beaten body. 

The cop fired at the man's knee. An excruciating scream. 

"Files, now!"

No answer. Another knee shot. Another death wish scream.

The cop cocked his gun one last time, pointing it right at the man's head.

"This is your final chance." He told him. "Where are the files."

Through all his anguish and suffering, the man found something. One last bit of life energy, not for his lungs or his blood, but for his will. His eyes stared at the cop with one final gaze of resolve, unblinking as his assailant pulled the trigger.

The Avalanche man went limp, his body finally free of pain. The cop shook his head, solely out of disappointment, however. His partners came up to him, told him they found no files anywhere on the man's person. The man swore. He told them, "call central command and tell em we've got a gang homicide here." And then he and his partners left. Just like that. The coroner would be coming to pick up the body, but until then, it just lay there in the street, rotting away, waiting for some dog to start biting at it. Because that's exactly what the cops wanted. They wanted it to decay and deteriorate and get ripped apart in the streets, not be dignified with a funeral. It was fitting for what they considered the scum of the scum.

Cloud turned away, but found his brother right behind his shoulder, a solemn expression on his face as he stared at the body mere yards away. Biggs was behind Reno, leaning against the wall, looking sickened. 

Cloud tried to say something. "Reno, I-" But Reno held up his finger, silencing him. Reno stood up and made his way out from behind the dumpster, approaching the body. Cloud squeezed out as well, following Reno across the street. He saw that in Reno's hand was the coat he had thrown aside earlier. Somber, he spread it over the man, gently closing his still open eyelids, closing them on the man's determined eyes. He reached into the man's pocket and pulled out a wallet, opening it.

"Richard Jay Finch," he read. He took out the gil and, out of his own pocket, pulled out Richard's bag, which he had apparently swiped earlier. Placing the gil in the bag, he said something to Richard, something Cloud couldn't hear.

Sirens rang out in the distance. Reno stood up with the bag, took one last look at the man, and walked toward Cloud. "We're going home."

-------------------------------------------------

There was something about flames waltzing about in the middle of the night that comforted Reno.

An hour later Cloud and Reno were back in sector 6, a few blocks away from the house and watching an old ramshackle cottage burn to the ground. It had been abandoned for years, so Reno saw no harm in burning it. Neither did Cloud. He did nothing to stop him.

And so Reno sat on a wall hugging his knees and smoking, the reflection of the flames dancing in his eyes. The structure started to collapse into itself, smoke growing out of smoldering wood and drifting out into the atmosphere until it disappeared before even reaching the plate. Cloud had no idea what was going through his brother's head. Reno hadn't said a word since they left sector 3, and didn't even bother saying bye to Biggs.

"Fuck!" Reno suddenly yelled, getting to his feet and throwing his cigarette to the pavement. Cloud stared at him, silent. Reno stared back, despondency in his eyes. "I'm doing itagain, goddamn it!"

"…Doing what?" Cloud asked, worried.

"Destruction, Cloud, destruction." He sighed heavily, staring at the sky. "It's all I ever do. And fucking shit, I'm doing it again!" He was screaming at the stars. "…I've got no purpose, no reason. All I do is fuck around, day after day, thinking that it's fine…"

Cloud had never seen his brother this way before. "Reno…are you alright?"

After a few moments Reno glanced at him once again, and this time his face appeared calmer in the orange glow. He laughed half-heartedly. "I'm about as alright as a drunkenly sober man ever can be. A calm bomb, a sane madman, a pious devil…I'm all those things right now and much more." He turned back to watch the blazing house. "Go on back home, Cloud, get some sleep." After noticing that Cloud didn't move, he chuckled. "Don't worry, you can trust me. You didn't all night and I thank you for that, but now, you can. Go to bed, Cloud."

So reluctantly, Cloud left Reno to his own devices. Left him to his burning house and his thoughts. 

And for once in his life, Cloud was genuinely worried about the maniac who lived with him.


	4. She Came From Five

Heheh…I warned you about the hiatus. But I felt like writing, so I decided to add a chappie, even if it was short (well, compared to the last chapter). And no, this is not a blow off chapter that has nothing to do with the plot; something important happens here. 

By the way, I want to clarify on the timeframe here; it's about early March right now in the school year. I really wasn't sure at first, but now I've pretty much got a good set up for what I'm going to be doing.

-------------------------------------------------

4. She Came From Five

It was the middle of third period Algebra, and Zack stood at the vending machine by the Senior hall, his head wiping against the glass pane as he watched the metal spring inside drop a bag of Home Sweet Home chocolate chip cookies into the bin. He retrieved his snack and quickly unwrapped the two soft cookies, eager to suppress that damn rumbling in his stomach. He bit into both at once.

And at once, he spat both bites out into the nearest garbage bin. Holy crap, that was the shittiest thing he'd ever tasted. 

"Hey, Zack!" 

But before he could continue complaining to himself, Reeve had called to him from down the hall, giving him someone else to complain to about the cookies.

"Reeve!" Zack greeted as the boy approached. "Hey, where you goin'?"

"Taking something to the office for Mrs. Alton," he answered, waving a manila envelope he held in one hand. He came up to the machine, dropping some coins into the slot, pressed D-3, and retrieved the taco chips he had bought from the bin. "Plus, this chick asked me to buy her some food."

Oh, those were the magic words for Zack. His interest peaked, and he grinned, innocently inquiring who she was. "I don't know, she's new or something. She used to go to Sector 5 high, but I think she's transferred here. Overcrowding or something." Reeve paused, not failing to take notice of Zack's typical schoolboy curiosity. "And yes, she's kinda hot, but no, neither of us is crushing on the other. So quit with the simpering, dick."

Zack laughed. "You think that crushes and girls are the only two things on my mind?"

"No, but I do think that you possess an ungodly amount of raging hormones. I bet that's why you're ditching class right now, huh? So you can check out the chicks?" 

Zack shook his head disappointedly. "You wish. If I had it my way, I'd be eating lunch in Gongaga right now. Have you tasted this shit?" He shook the bag of cookies in his hand. Reeve tilted his head sideways to read the label.

"'Home Sweet Home?' No, haven't eaten that stuff. Is it good?"

He got a look in return from Zack. "What the hell, Reeve, if I refer to a bag of cookies as shit, do you think that I'm telling you it's good?"

Reeve shrugged with fake naivete, hiding his amusement. "Well, you could've been using that silly slang of yours again. Like when Beth got that new jacket from her boyfriend for her birthday and you called it 'the shit.'" He even used air quotes, just to mock Zack. "You said that it meant the jacket was 'awesome.' If the word has two definitions, how am I supposed to know which one you're using?"

But Zack, slow as he was, caught on. "You always have to be such an ass to me, don't you?" Receiving an impertinent grin and nod in return, he shook his head. "God, I hate you, Reeve. …Anyway, like I was saying, this stuff sucks. There's no flavor at all, and no sugar, or even chocolate! It's just all crap and preservatives, man."

"Aww, but it says right here that they're baked with love, Zack," Reeve answered dryly. "You don't appreciate it?"

Zack smirked. "I appreciate my mom's cookies," he pointed out, "now _those _are made with love. Actually, now that I think of it, it was like that thing we read in English today, remember? 'In the end the love you make is equal to the love you take.'" He paused for a moment, sort of musing at the quote. "When my siblings and I came home to see our parents this weekend, my mom baked her special chocolate chip cookies just for us, you know? That's what 'made with love' really means."

While Zack started to ponder this connection he made between the cookies and the quote, Reeve started to wonder what his friend was on. Zack never was a reflective type of guy, but when he did philosophize, so to speak, Reeve could never really take him seriously. Oh, come on. When your friend somehow found a life lesson in how his mother made cookies, you couldn't help it.

"So in summary," Reeve started, "you say that to receive love, you give it."

"You could put it that way, I guess," Zack answered.

"Well then obviously in order to receive 'love', or in this case, good cookies, you must give it to whoever has the 'love', or cookies." He paused, grinning evilly. "Personally, I wouldn't advise you to give any 'love' to the vending machine, but then that's just me."

One of the cookies hit Reeve in the head, the other collided with his chest and exploded into a million little crumbs. "Man, fuck you, Reeve," Zack said angrily to a pleased Reeve, who was still laughing despite the fact that there were cookie crumbs all over his shirt.

"Pick it up!" Reeve laughed. "It's your mess!"

"Screw it," Zack fumed. "Let's just walk away before someone comes."

And so they strolled down the Senior hall on their way to the gym, Reeve's chuckles lessening as the walked along. Though Zack was still thoroughly pissed, he hadn't forgotten what he had sworn to ask him.

"So? How did it go Friday?"

"Heh heh…oh, Friday? You didn't hear? The concert ended with a huge riot."

"Seriously? With cops and everything?"

"Yup. But I'll tell you about it next period; I've gotta get this thing to the office."

Zack was still interested in what happened with Tifa, but he decided that it could wait. "You have to get it to the office, you say? Or do you have to get those taco chips to your new girlfriend?"

In reply, Reeve chuckled, not at all insulted. "You're not gonna give up on this, are you?"

"Oh, maybe I will. You don't seem like the kind of guy who really commits, anyway. Maybe she can be your sex slave, yeah? Or the other way around?"

"You are so going to hell for this, you know that? You and your sick mind."

"Or is it you and your girl who have the sick minds?" Zack laughed, taking up a valley girl voice. "'Oh, Reeve, you like, totally light my torch! You are like, so hot. Kiss me, Reeve! Marry me, Reeve! Make love to me, Reeve!'"

"Get out of the way, Reeve!" said a voice. Impulsively, Reeve complied.

Zack spun around to face the speaker, only to be met with a swift boot to the shin. A boot that lashed out from a pink skirt.

"HOLY SHIT!" Zack yelled, crumbling over and staggering back towards the wall. "Shhhhit! God DAMN, that hurts!"

"Serves you right for being obnoxious," said his assailant, as Reeve watched in bewildered shock behind her. In agony, Zack looked up at the bitch who had kicked him, vowing to return the attack with vulgar, unrestrained verbal abuse.

But something stopped Zack. It was a mysterious something that took a roll of duct tape and wound it around his mouth and head twenty times, ensuring that he would never dare to curse her name. He wasn't sure if it was in her beautiful green eyes, or her braided auburn hair, or that stylish yet sarcastic smirk on her face, but sure enough, something had stopped him. '_My God…' _he thought in awe.

"Are you alright, Reeve?" the girl asked, dropping the tough girl attitude and showing some concern.

"Uh, this is my friend, actually," Reeve told her. "He was just fucking around, he-he didn't mean anything." Then he turned to Zack, a very apologetic look on his face. "Dude, Zack, I am _so, so _sorry. I didn't know that, I mean that, uh…er, well, I-I guess I should just introduce you two first: uh, Aeris Gainsborough, this is Zack Kurozaki; Zack, this is the new girl, Aeris."

__
    
    Can't explain all the feelings that you're making me feel
    My heart's in over drive and you're behind the steerin' wheel…

------------------------------------

Haha, yay for The Darkness! Anyway, hopefully next update'll be sooner, but I should warn you that my schedule's kinda full for the next two weeks. 

And by the way, thanks to Ah-choo, BlueBubbles, Riyuji.Raicho (hey, your profile says you're a filipino! Dude. You are officially cool in my book.), gauntlet challenge, Katie, Inu Yasha Tashio, L'Alouette, and udonluver13 for the reviews. Support certainly never hurts (hint hint, lol). 


	5. He Came To Fourth

5. He Came To Fourth

"Fear doesn't travel well; just as it can warp judgment, its absence can diminish memory's truth." – Arthur Miller

Reno was in a sober, brooding mode for the rest of the week.

Before, Cloud could remember Reno acting this way only two previous times in his life. The first time was when he was 8 and Cloud was 5, and it was an incident involving Reno's pet ferret Bunker and the inattentive driver of a materia supply truck. Of course at the time, Cloud didn't feel at all sorry for his brother, partially because he hated him but mostly because he despised the ferret. He often found the wretched critter in his sheets at night scurrying all over his chest and legs apparently looking for the best place to rape him.

Anyway, little Reno had been sulking and pouting for a week, and the bitching finally ended when Reno saw the perpetrator's truck while shopping with his father in sector three. Cloud distinctly remembered his brother suddenly breaking away from his dad's grip and tearing through the street over to the truck, grabbing a rock from the ground and proceeding to break all the windows and mirrors. It was the first in Reno's many major acts of destruction.

Such fond memories, eh? Of course, the incident was a hell of a litigation headache for his parents, but they eventually settled out of court. And from then on was when Reno commenced his hobby of obliterating both physical objects and overbearing rules.

The second time Reno had allowed himself to succumb to real misery was when their father died. Cloud couldn't really recall his brother's demeanor at that time, since he himself was also mourning, but once he had overheard his mother talking to his aunt from Nibelheim about it. She said that Reno had run off for three days after his father died, finally turning up in the sector seven train station. He was standing in front of the fast-talking dick who ran the guessing card game, watching the man as his hands stealthily switch cards every which way. The con always asked him to pick a card, but Reno wouldn't answer. Finally, on the con's last shuffle, Reno picked a card.

The one hidden in the con's jacket pocket, which "coincidentally" turned out to be the right one.

The con told him to fuck off and to go home to mommy, and accordingly, Reno kicked the con's table right in his face. A cop eventually arrested the con, but not before Mrs. Strife had scrambled frantically into the train station, finding her poor boy wedged in a crowd of commuters, who were trying to restrain the con from getting at the 11 year-old.

That memory wasn't very fond for anyone.

But if Cloud had felt some unease for his brother on Friday night, any trace of that had dissipated in only a weekend. He was far from _not_ being concerned about Reno's disposition, sure, but Cloud had early on developed that "urban desensitization," that certain rational way of thinking that most city dwellers adopted. When you lived in the slums, you were already screwed over; dwelling on _insignificant_ things only gave Life license to give it to you in the ass.

At least the whole incident _seemed_ insignificant, after a time. As far as Cloud could tell, nothing was seriously wrong with Reno. He still stayed out every night until o'dark thirty in the morning, but not with his friends. Apparently not with a "flicker-happy" lighter either, as evidenced by the lack of arson reports on the evening news. And sure, Reno was less talkative now, but it wasn't as if that wasn't welcome.

And then there was Tifa. Cloud hadn't seen her at all at the park on Friday. Maybe she was sick? No, she was perfectly fine during the day. She probably did go, but he just never bumped into her. …But it wasn't like it had been a _huge_ concert. He _should_ have seen her. Well, he was distracted with Reno and all…But that wasn't until the very end. And he remembered watching her favorite band play, Bumwipers or whatever they hell they called themselves. From his perch, she should have been able to see her in the mosh pit at that time. What if she had lied to him? …No, that's retarded; why would she lie about going to a concert? Maybe to her dad, but it wasn't as if _he_ were her dad or anything…

Eventually, Cloud came to the realization that nothing had changed at all. It was just like before. When he wasn't wondering about Reno, he was thinking about Tifa. That's all he really ever did, sad as it was.

He supposed things would never change.

-------------------------------------------------

While walking to the main building after third period on Monday, Cloud was unfortunate enough to become the victim in a round of "Battered Fish." It was a popular upperclassmen pastime Reno had started last year that involved a catapult, a batter-filled water balloon, and an unsuspecting Freshman. It was ten points for a hit, fifty if you hit the kid directly in the head, with an additional twenty if he was an uptight little shrimp. Our uptight shrimp ended up having to take a detour to the boys' room before fourth, the right side of his face half-smothered in tempura batter as he bitterly walked down the hall amidst the derisive chuckles and sneers of amused upperclassmen.

So Cloud ended up late to fourth period, muttering and cursing as he turned the corner and-

"Cloud!"

The voice came from right behind him. Tifa.

He stopped, but couldn't turn around. Out of embarrassment or fear or _something_, he just couldn't. But she came around to him instead, facing him. She was carrying her purse and a bathroom pass.

"Cloud, aren't you kind of late?" she asked. "The bell just rang."

"Er…yeah, I know," he stuttered, "I just, uh…"

Her eyes narrowed in a curious stare, and a sudden, irrational anxiety overcame Cloud. "What's that in your hair?"

Crap. His hand quickly shot out to his hair, but for some reason, he went for the left side of his head.

"No, it's on this side," Tifa told him, pulling off a stray piece of dried batter attached to one of his blonde spikes. "…Battered fish again?" Cloud couldn't really nod or respond, but she took the silence as a yes anyway. "You know, your brother can be such a jerk sometimes…"

"Oh no, that wasn't Reno," he said abruptly. "Uh…some juniors, I think."

She flicked the piece of batter away, nodding. "Don't you just hate freshmen hazing?"

Cloud smiled slightly. "Oh, yeah. Er…Can't wait till we're sophomores, eh?"

"Of course, next year'll be _way_ funner! As long as we don't have to be dubbed 'fish' anymore." She glanced at her watch. "You know, I think you'd better get to class before-"

"-Wait!" He interrupted.

"Huh?"

"Uh…I didn't…I didn't see you at the Battle of the Bands on Friday."

Tifa smiled. "Oh, you went? Wasn't it great? I actually had to leave after an hour—I had my dad's PHS and he called to tell me to leave because my aunt was in the hospital. She had a bad case of pneumonia."

"Ohh." Cloud's earlier fears departed from his mind. "So…is she okay?"

"She's fine now. She's still in the hospital, but getting much better. Oh, but did you stay the entire time? I heard there was a big riot."

"Er, yeah…But we left before it got real bad."

"Wow, that's pretty lucky," she mused. "I heard someone died that night, but I'm not sure if it was part of the riot or not."

"I've really got to go," Cloud said hastily, before the image of the dead man could enter his head once again. "I'm late."

"Oh, sure Cloud, go ahead. See you later!"

He waved sort of fleetingly before hurrying off to class. As it turned out, he was ten minutes late, earning a stern glare and a tardy from Mrs. Brown. Everyone else was in pairs doing a worksheet on the play they had been reading, so Cloud took his seat in the back, taking out his book and starting on his work alone, as usual.

"Need a partner?" A feminine voice asked politely.

Even before looking up, Cloud guessed he knew who the speaker was: this nice chick that sat up in front, though as well liked as the girl was, Cloud couldn't quite place her name. He figured that she had probably seen him in the hall in all his fish battered glory, felt some pity, and decided to be nice to him for the moment. He really hated that. When people you barely even knew sympathized with you just because you were the poor quiet guy who sat in the back. They thought they knew you had problems at home, or you that you were shy and scared to talk or something. But hell, quiet was just the way he was in class.

Annoyed, he looked up, but instead he found someone else, someone he'd never seen before.

"Who're you?" Cloud asked sort of rudely.

"I believe I posed the first question," she answered with a grin. "Do you need a partner?"

"Uh…I work better alone, thanks."

"Well I don't," she said, taking a seat next to him. "So I guess you'll just have to take me as a partner then, right?"

Cloud couldn't believe what he was hearing. Mystified, he watched as the girl opened her book and peeked over at his answer sheet. "Well, I guess you haven't really had enough time to get started, huh?" She said, indicating his paper. "Well, I'll let you copy my answers for the first four."

"Whoa, whoa, hold up," Cloud said, staring at the girl with a confused look on his face. "Lemme rest first, alright? I just ran down here from the north hall, you know." He had actually been in the classroom for a good five minutes. And she probably didn't know, but still. Fortunately, the girl patiently conceded, turning to glance over her work. A bit disapproving, Cloud shook his head. "What the hell are you in a hurry for anyway?"

She shrugged. "Oh, no reason, really. It's my first day here, I guess I'm just sort of energized about it."

Energized. Cloud always identified that word as being synonymous with 'annoying.' He figured he knew what he was going to be in for this period. "Whatever. My name's Cloud, by the way."

"Aeris." Cloud snorted abruptly. It was barely audible, but she still noticed. "What's so funny?"

"What kind of a name is that?" He blurted out. But as soon as he said it, he regretted it. He didn't mean to be so bluntly rude. Really, Cloud was pulling a regular Reno right now. What the hell was going on with him?

He kicked himself, thinking that the girl would answer with something like 'that was my grandmother's name, ass! She died in a train wreck!' But instead she smiled shortly, leaned over to him, and said:

"It's the kind of name that anyone named 'Cloud' is in no position to question."

Cloud couldn't help but laugh at that. He laughed so loudly that he earned another glare from Mrs. Brown. Cloud accordingly stifled himself to a chuckle. But he found himself liking this girl—in a platonic way, of course. To Cloud, Tifa would always be much better looking. Though he had never really met any girls with a sense of humor like Aeris'.

"Touché, _Aeris_," Cloud said modestly. "That one was good."

"I thought so. But if necessary, there's more where that came from."

"Heh, I'll bet. So where'd _you_ come from, then?"

Sensing that Mrs. Brown's glare was presently directed at her and Cloud, Aeris quickly looked back down at her work, as if in thought. Cloud instinctively followed suit. "I'm from sector five," she whispered. "I still live there actually, but this is the weird thing—they told me that I had to transfer over here because of overcrowding!"

Cloud gave her a look. "What the hell are they talking about? We're packed like sardines over here too."

"Yeah, that's exactly what my mom and I told them. But they still made me transfer, and in the middle of the semester, too. It's really strange, but they wouldn't give us a straight answer to any of our questions."

"That's messed up."

"I've just kind of accepted it, you know? After all, I get to meet new people. But my mom's actually still trying to fix it with the school district administrators—she doesn't like the idea of me walking through the streets more than I have to everyday. She's kind of over-protective sometimes."

Cloud let out a chuckle. "My mom's kind of like that. Except she's not that authoritative, because my brother pretty much does whatever he wants all the time." "Does your brother go here?"

"Yeah. His name's Reno, he's a senior. He's a big screw up, but he's pretty smart when he's not drunk or substance-high."

"So do you ever worry about him?"

This caught Cloud by surprise. He looked at Aeris curiously. "Uh…what?"

"You know, do you ever worry that he's being too self-destructive?" She posed the question carefully. "I don't mean to stereotype, I mean, I don't know your brother or anything, but a lot of druggies and drunks usually don't see much of a path before them. That's why they indulge so much."

The memory of Friday night passed through his mind briefly, but he answered with a short but blunt "I'm pretty certain he knows what he's doing." It came out sounding a bit rude, which told Aeris that she had crossed a line. She left it at that, and though he wanted to apologize, he didn't.

-------------------------------------------------

"Why do you think that chick kicked me earlier?"

Reeve sighed with boredom as he rested his cheek on his fist. "Zack, you're getting way too hung up over this."

"But it doesn't make sense!"

"What's to make sense over? For the fiftieth time, Zack, you were an ass. You needed kicking."

"If I'm such an ass, why didn't _you_ kick me?"

"Because I don't believe in getting physical. And when dealing with you, well, I've got verbal abuse for that."

Zack snorted. "Is that just a nice way of saying that you're too pussy to pick a fight with me?" He teased derisively.

A grin spread over Reeve's face. "No, it means that it's much easier to screw around with you when I make you use your brain to defend yourself."

Zack sat there, his mind mulling over the conflicting options of jumping the lunch table and strangling Reeve or just…coming up with a feeble comeback. Either way proved that Reeve was right. Frustrated with himself, Zack finally responded with an eye roll and a "fuck you," and then stormed off towards the snack bar.

"Hey Zack!" Reeve called back amusedly, "get me some chips, yeah?"

In reply, Zack flipped him the bird over his shoulder.

Reeve shrugged, turning away to find Cloud and Aeris walking towards his table (after fourth, Cloud invited her to lunch, despite their earlier awkward conversation).

"Hey, you seem to make friends with all the right people!" Reeve told Aeris as she approached.

"Or at least people I end up having to help out," she laughed, setting her lunch tray on the table.

"And I thought _I_ was the new kid?" Reeve smirked. "Hey, I admit to being seriously horrible when it comes to Mrs. Alton's history class, but I am like, a genius at everything else."

"Like P.E.?" asked Cloud sardonically.

"…Shut up, I didn't mean that. Besides, you're not exactly Sephiroth Hojo either, so I wouldn't be talking."

Cloud flinched slightly at Sephiroth's name, as if bothered by the sound of it, but no one noticed. "Who's Sephiroth Hojo?" Aeris asked curiously.

"He's a junior, big man on campus," Reeve explained, stirring his goopy applesauce absentmindedly. "You're supposed to fall in love with him one of these days. Every other girl in this school has, and they swoon whenever Seph walks by."

"Wow. Tells you a lot about the girls here, huh? That's kind of sad. So then what happens if I don't fall for this guy?"

"You could always fall for Reeve!" Cloud said, laughing uncontrollably. Reeve didn't take much amusement in it, though. He was about to pull a Zack and give him the finger when Zack himself came back to the table with a plate of fries, looking bewildered.

"What…what's this?" He questioned.

Aeris looked up. "Oh, it's you again! Zack, right? I'm sorry about earlier."

Zack's face brightened. "Really?" he asked, his posture straightening.

"Yes. I admit that I overreacted, but you _were_ being a real ass." Reeve flashed a grin at Zack, who made sure not to look back.

"Oh, well…I didn't _mean _it, of course." As he sat down across from her, Zack made sure to put on that charmer of a smile he was so fortunate to possess, and flaunted it unreservedly to Aeris. Reeve and Cloud exchanged looks. The boy was surely going into flirt mode, and with all possible speed. "I mean, how was I supposed to know that the new girl would be a rose such as yourself?" _'_

_Good god,' _Cloud thought, stifling a chuckle with all his energy. Reeve wasn't as strong: he had to 'accidentally' drop his fork and dive under the table in order to keep himself from howling at what a horndog Zack was being.

The worst part was that Aeris was actually falling for it. "Really?" she asked him, flattered. "You think that I'm a rose?"

"An absolute rose, babe," he told her, glancing at her hands. "A lone red beacon in an endless sea of green, standing tall in the wind with silky petals for hands and, and-"

"-Thorns to ward away losers like you?" she said abuptly.

"…What?" Aeris stood up, frowning disappointedly at Zack. "Let me guess, do you think it hurt when I fell from heaven? Or did you lose your number and now you want mine? Believe me, I've heard them all, Zack, and I used to be homeschooled! Get some new lines, and while you're at it, get a life!" She walked away still frowning with disgust, while Zack just sat there, once again bewildered.

Reeve was rolling around on the floor laughing to death, while Cloud patted Zack's back assuredly, though he himself was chuckling as well. "Er, heh heh…there there, Zack, it's alright, heh heh."

But Zack shook him away. "Fuck off," He muttered, and with fries in hand, he stomped off once again.

Something pulled at Cloud's pant cuff. He looked down to find Reeve, gasping for air.

"If I die right now," he told him, "make sure that Zack knows I've died happy."

-----------------------------------------------------

A/N:

1. Yes, I'm lazy. But I have writer's block too! …Hey, look on the bright side; it's summertime. I'll probably update sooner! YAY!

2. Aeris was homeschooled until the 8th grade, then her mom finally let her go to sector 5 high. Then of course, she was transferred to sector 6.

3. Hopefully, Zack-Reeve banter won't be restricted to "Zack attempts to tease Reeve, Reeve comes back with a witty comment, Zack gets served" in future chapters.

4. Elle Driver (California Mountain Snake)

5. I've re-uploaded the second chapter with a few edits and revisions, because honestly, the tone was kind of corny and lame. Now it's a little less corny, but not much has changed.

6. Aeris' witty little line is taken from the movie _Igby Goes Down_ (Replace "Cloud" with "Sookie"). I might steal lines now and then, but most of the one-liners here I make up myself. Honestly!

7. "She Came From Five" - title of a La Femme Nikita episode. "He Came To Fourth" - variation on the title.

8. I don't want this to be the central element of the story, but yes, Cloud/Tifa, Zack/Aeris. But this is high school, mind you, and these kids aren't really experienced in dating yet. So what'll they do? They'll experiment… ; )

9. Okay, that's it. Review and tell me how I'm doing!

10. No, that's not it. This quick edit system sucks ass.


	6. Second Shot

6. Second Shot

_I know__ I know you feel me beaming  
Can you sense my burning x-ray vision  
As you roll on by now  
You must be gravitating  
To the vibe I'm generating or maybe not…yet  
I have known you forever  
You pushed the reset button on the counter of my heart  
But you'll laugh at my advances  
But still I've gotta chance it as I watch your dust  
_

_-Satellite, Smash Mouth_

* * *

Zack didn't get a chance to talk to Aeris again until about two weeks after their initial 'encounter', mostly because much of her time was preoccupied with…avoiding him. Fortunately for her, he wasn't in any of her classes, so it limited the times in which she had to steer clear of him to passing periods and lunchtime. She found a nice group of girls to eat with during lunch, and one of the girls always brought along her sophomore boyfriend who was on the JV wrestling team; a tall, muscular boy who really scared the piss out of Zack. So the whole arrangement worked out well for Aeris for two weeks, until he spotted her sitting with a friend after school at a lunch table. 

"You know, she still hates your guts," Reeve pointed out, after Zack told he and Cloud that he wanted to walk over to her and maybe chat it up. "She says that you're a sexist pig and that if you had any more intentions of approaching her, she'd tell you to eat shit and go to hell, because the only chance you have with her is down there."

Despite the fact that Cloud and Reeve shared fifth period Algebra with Aeris, he knew better than to trust their information. "She did not say that."

"Well, you have no way of knowing, no do you?" Reeve sneered.

Zack rolled his eyes. "Oh, fine. But if she did say that, it would still imply that I have a chance. Am I right?"

Reeve muttered something that sounded like "Provided that you eat excrement first," but Zack, fortunately, didn't hear.

"Come on," Zack was saying, "I'm right, aren't I, Cloud?"

Cloud was sort of in a daze, mouth agape and not really paying any attention. For the past two weeks the only subject that had been coming out of Zack's mouth was Aeris, so he was a bit Aeris-ed out at the moment.

"Hey, Cloud! Back me up here, will ya?"

"What? Oh yeah, sure." He answered absent-mindedly.

Zack clapped his hands. "Well, that settles it. I'm gonna go and mingle." And the optimistic suitor separated from his friends, setting off on his little quest."

"Poor Aeris," Reeve commented as he shook his head. "She'll hate us for not stopping him."

Cloud shrugged indifferently. "At least we tried."

Reeve snorted. "Hey, whatever man. I was the one doing all the work! You were just standing there, staring into space like some comatose chimera."

"Well, it's time Aeris did a little work. Avoiding Zack is just getting to be way too easy for her. Besides," he grinned, "this way is much more fun; it leaves her with only two options."

Intrigued, Reeve looked at his friend. He was a bit surprised with the obnoxious look on Cloud's face. He didn't see that very often. "Oh? And just what are these options?"

* * *

"One, you run. You just start running. I'll trip him and start throwing books and things at him, and then you can get away. But you'd better watch it though, the boy's an athlete." 

Aeris frowned at Joanie. Her friend's assessment of the situation was not looking good. "I really don't like being chased. Especially for affection." She looked up and noticed that Zack was approaching ever closer to them. "And my alternative?" she asked quickly.

"The alternative is that you…" She paused for a moment. "Er, you talk…to him?" Aeris stared. "Oh come on, you know what I'm talking about! You play with him, mess around with his head. You know!"

"No, I don't know! Joanie, I need better options!" Zack was mere yards away now.

"Look, this isn't multiple choice, okay? I can't think…"

"Joanie!" she hissed. "Quick, come up with-"

But alas, it was too late. "Hello, ladies," Zack greeted, flashing a stupid grin. "Nice day we're having, eh? Very sunny."

If the sheer lameness of the comment hadn't made the girls gag, the fact that they lived in perpetual night under the goddamn plate did. "It was a nice day," Joanie muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, nothing." Joanie suddenly picked up her bag, recognizing her 'hey, I tried, but you're on your own now, girl!' cue. "Look, Aeris, I've gotta go. I have a piano lesson tonight." Aeris looked at her pleadingly, but it didn't work. Joanie walked off without waiting for a goodbye.

Zack was looking off after her as well. "Huh. Well, pardon me, but your friends don't seem to be very reliable."

"I'm aware," she answered, though she didn't direct her look of disdain at Joanie. It was focused on the two boys watching them from their spot next to the gym, trying to hide the fact that they had just been watching Zack's approach with gut-splitting glee.

"So how have you been, then?" Zack asked politely. It seemed like he wanted to make a better impression on Aeris this time. He was hoping the last one he made wasn't permanent. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"I've been busy," she answered shortly, hoping this wouldn't take too long.

"Oh really? Huh. …Well, have you gotten used to everything yet? Know how to get around the school?"

"I can find my way around well enough." This was all too formal. She felt like she was talking to the mayor.

"I see. Uh, so…did they tell you the thing about the third floor-"

"-What, the supposed 'pool' up there? Yeah, I've heard about that. None of the upperclassmen have tried to sell me 'pool passes' yet, so I suppose I'm not such an obvious newbie."

"Heh, yeah," said Zack, who glanced at the ground, obviously braindead for something to say. "That's good."

Aeris watched Zack amusedly, and started laughing. Zack stood there sort of mystified, wondering how to react. "What, do you have to be a total ass in order to converse with anyone?" She asked him.

That certainly took him by surprise. "Wait, excuse me?" he started, dropping the polite demeanor. "How on earth was I being an ass?"

"No, it's the opposite of that," Aeris giggled. "You weren't being an ass."

"So? Don't you prefer that?"

"Well, sort of, but you're really boring when you try to be courteous and respectful."

Zack's jaw dropped, crashed into the ground, cracked a hole in the pavement, and then some. "What….So you're telling me that you don't like it? You're telling me the exact opposite of what you said the other day! Well hell, aren't you a real woman! Freakin hell!" This was probably the first time Zack had ever been mad at a crush. It was very different for him, really. "Geez…You want me to be a bad-mannered dick?"

"Look, Zack," she started, "I don't want you to be a bad-mannered dick because it's not in the very least attractive, and I don't want you to be a respectful gentleman because honestly, you really suck at it."

Zack stared blankly. Aeris sighed. "Okay, you want to know why I'm better friends with Reeve and Cloud than I am with you?" He nodded. "It's because they're themselves. Neither one is over the top, and neither feels the need to be a complete ass. And I know that you're not a complete ass, because both of them told me so. So just…be you, be normal Zack. And if you stop thinking with your crotch all the time, there's a good chance that I'll be your friend.

Zack took all of this into consideration, taking a moment to think a while. Then he grinned. "I'm going to hold you to that, Aeris."

"Ah, no guarantees. I only said that there's a good chance."

His grin widened. "That's still better than a chance in hell, isn't it?"

Aeris looked at him curiously. "What?"

* * *

Yes, an update! I should apologize, but it's only going to happen again. But not with the next chapter! Because I have like, half of it written already, and I could probably post it over Spring Break (next week). And yes, I know that this chapter was short, for a damn, what, nine month wait? I'm sorry. But it's really more of a self-contained thing, so I didn't connect it with what I wrote for the next chapter. And if anyone's missing Reno, have no fear. He's in the next chapter. Still moody, but he's there. 

BTW, this QuickEdit thing is still gay. I can't insert empty space,so I usedruler lines to sort of get the same effect.But I want my empty space, dammit.

To Riyuji (sorry this took so long): I'm Pinoy too. So I was just hollerin' back, yo! Um...yeah...I'm a dork...


	7. Mr Cool Customer

_7. Mr. Cool Customer_

"Have you noticed that Reno hasn't been eating very much these days? His appetite has really shrunken by a lot! …Come to think of it, he hardly sleeps, he hardly talks…he's hardly himself! Honey, do you have any idea what could be wrong with him?"

Mrs. Strife was a little slow on the uptake; it was already three weeks after the Battle of the Bands and she had barely noticed that Reno was acting strangely. Of course by this time, Reno's mood had subsided significantly, though not to the extent of being 'normal' again. Cloud looked up from his history homework at his mother, who stood there with troubled, uneasy eyes, anxious for a response. But he wasn't quite sure how to answer. He _thought _he knew what was wrong: someone died because of Reno, and naturally, he was taking it badly. But somehow it didn't seem like the problem was as simple as that, even with an idiot like Reno. Cloud really hadn't thought about it much, though. So he just told his mother exactly what he had excused it as:

"I think he's just going through a phase."

It sounded very cliched for Cloud to say, as if he were a father or something. Fathers were like that; they were always laid back, never overly concerned, and in a way, they kept worrywart mothers in check. And besides, the way his mother had phrased the question even _sounded_ like she was addressing his father.

Anyway, his mother had frowned slightly at his explanation, but accepted it without much further question. Though she still eyed Reno apprehensively whenever he entered or exited a room she was in, or she often spoke to him with wary cautiousness. She basically treated him like a time bomb: very slowly and delicately.

And that may have not been the worst course of action to take at the time.

* * *

On Thursday afternoon, Aeris went on her first outing with Cloud, Reeve and her new "friend." At Zack's suggestion, they decided to go to the discount movies and see _The Guns of Junon_. It was one of those old war films that encompassed both the adventure and romance genres, so it appealed to pretty much everyone except Reeve. So to keep himself entertained, Reeve decided to intersperse some commentary on the apparent phallic subtext within the movie.

"That guy sure likes to talk about his machine gun a lot…"

"Reeve, will you shut the hell up and let us enjoy the movie!"

"Well excuse me, but when they show a guy constantly blabbing on about how he's gonna single-handedly fuck up all the enemy soldiers up the ass with his Big Bertha, then you gotta wonder what the hell-"

"_Shut up!_"

The movie continued on like that, which didn't really make it enjoyable for Reeve's friends. Or the rest of the audience. When he had gone out to use the restrooms, Cloud could've sworn that he heard some of the ushers outside muttering to each other about possibly kicking the "obnoxious punk" out of the theater. Fortunately they never went through with it.

"That was a really good movie," said Zack afterwards, when they found themselves standing outside the theater. Some of the movie staff and audience members were mad-dogging them viciously as they passed by.

"Well, I wouldn't know, Aeris said sarcastically, "because _someone_ kept having the urge to mutter color commentary about it in my ear."

"Hey, I enhance the movie-viewing experience," Reeve declared.

"Right, more like ruined it!"

"Aww, you guys knew that guy was gonna bite the dust in the end! Aside from the obvious foreshadowing, he was too much of a goody-goody to live."

"Well, I think it's obvious we won't plan on seeing another movie with you anytime soon," Cloud told him. He glanced over at the clock hanging over the ticket booth; one of the only working public clocks in the Slums. It was a quarter till seven. A quartet of freshmen roaming around any time after seven was certain to meet up with some of the Slums' more unfavorable residents. "It's getting late. We probably should get home."

"Yeah, good idea," said Zack. "I'm starving."

And this was the point during which someone would have offered to walk Aeris back home to sector five. But no one did so. Zack didn't want to seem too forward, while the thought never even occurred to Reeve or Cloud because they were woefully lacking in the field of general courtesy towards ladies. Finally Aeris decided to bring it up herself.

"Yoo hoo, girl here!" she said, as the boys were about to walk away. "I don't live here, remember? Would one of you mind walking me home?"

The only person Cloud and Reeve thought would volunteer was Zack. However, Zack apparently had other plans in mind. "You know, Reeve lives closer to sector five than we do," he noted. "Why don't you walk her, Reeve?"

Zack received a strange look from Reeve, one that effectively and concisely combined 'what the fuck' with 'what are you on' in a single gesture.

"Uh, I guess…I could," Reeve said, still watching Zack with wary eyes.

"Great," said Aeris, satisfied. And to Zack and Cloud she said, "See you guys tomorrow, then?"

They answered affirmatively, and Reeve and Aeris walked off west towards sector five. As soon as they were far enough away, Cloud turned to Zack and gave him a good long look.

"Where is Zack, and what have you done with his hormones?" He asked seriously.

Zack grinned mischievously, and then started walking in the direction opposite of Reeve and Aeris. Cloud followed. "I'm still here," Zack told him. "But I've decided that I'm going to have to take another approach to this whole predicament. Especially after that talk she gave me, you know? So I'm planning on taking some time on this."

Cloud laughed. That'll be a first. So does this have to do with where we're going, then?" He had noticed that they just walked by the street they were supposed to turn at.

"You could say that. We're going up to Wall Market, that's why I wanted you to come with me, not Reeve."

"Wait a minute." Cloud stopped, pulling Zack to a halt. "You want to go _where_?"

"Wall Market."

He stared at him in terror. "Good god, you act like it's the arcade!"

"And you act like it's the cemetery," Zack answered, annoyed.

"No, it's worse," Cloud started, "at the cemetery they at least say a prayer and then leave you alone when they're done with you."

"Aw, you're not talking about the freaks at the Honeybee Inn, are you? Dude, those pervs just go to the brothel."

"And when they can't afford the brothel, they find _other_ means of diversion. Zack, you don't know what the hell you're talking about-"

"-Look, we're going nowhere near the inn, okay? And it's only gonna be a few minutes; we'll be out of the by 7:20, 7:30, tops."

Cloud sighed. "God, you're an idiot. …And I guess I am too, cause I'm coming."

"Thanks, man."

"…You do know that you pretty much owe me your soul for this, right?"

"Remind me to give you an IOU later."

They started walking again, the streets not quite empty but nearing that point. Cloud realized that he wanted to know what exactly they were going to be doing. "Why do we need to go to Wall Market, anyway?"

"Well, Wall Market _is_ the place for anything, I'm told. But what we're going to go get is an essential part of my plan. You'll see."

* * *

Zack and Cloud stood in a small, overcrowded materia shop sitting in a small corner of Wall Market. It was one of those questionable shops that sold both materia and junk made up to look like antiques. Like the cheese grater that allegedly belonged to Douglas Harrison Shinra, President Shinra's great-grandfather. Or the pick-ax that was used in Midgar's ground breaking ceremony a hundred years ago. But there were useful items, too. Like the item Zack was presently eyeing.

"A _flower_?" said Cloud, staring at the delicate white daisy nestled in a glass on the counter. "A fucking _flower_? You dragged me all the way over here to pick up a stupid weed for Aeris!"

"Hey man, that is not weed," said the salesman, a strung-out young guy who sat planted on the counter. Then he said in a low voice, "There's a procedure for that kind of transaction though, if you know what I mean."

Cloud ignored him. "Zack, _this_ is the essential part of your plan?"

"Well come on, Cloud, this is a _real_ flower!" said Zack, marveling at the daisy. "You can't find this anywhere in the slums. Or in Gongaga, for that matter. Everything's way too dead over there. But man, Aeris'll love this."

"How the hell would you know? She barely stopped avoiding you."

"There are certain things in a woman you can always tell on sight," said Zack, who talked as if he were discussing a fine science. "Playfulness, confidence, insecurity, flirtatiousness…You can see stuff like that. With Aeris, I see someone who's down to earth. She's sensible, very practical…yet simply beautiful. Just," he held up the daisy, "…like a flower. See?"

The salesman snapped his fingers enthusiastically. "Right on, man, that is so deep."

"Thank you."

Cloud could've laughed right then and there. "You know, she told you to get a life the last time you compared her to a flower."

"Don't mock me," Zack snapped. "Anyway, we're on better terms now. She'll like it, you'll see. …Hey, how much for the daisy and the glass?"

A stupid grin spread across the salesman's wrinkling face. "Hey, for you man, 20 gil."

Zack gave the guy a look. "20? Geez, I'd hate to think what the regular price is."

"It's cuz I think you're a cool cat, my brother. Anyone with that much insight on women can't be that bad. Come back when you lose your virginity, alright?"

Zack made a noncommittal sound in response, then quickly ducked out of the shop with Cloud. Once outside they exchanged glances, and then suddenly burst out snickering.

Once he calmed down, Zack checked his watch. "7:16," he told Cloud. "See? Fourteen minutes to get home."

"Whatever man, let's just get out of this dump."

They set off down into the marketplace, encountering more of the same generic shady-types they had seen upon entering. A lot of them wore the same combinations of clothes: long bum coats, faded t-shirts, worn out sneakers or boots, tight skull caps that made them look all the more questionable. And every other creep was carrying a bottle of some type. But like creatures on an amusement park ride, the shock factor came at first sight, then went away just as soon as you did.

Eventually they made it to the entrance. There were no 'please come again' signs here, just an empty alleyway leading off into the dark street. That was the exit sign. The lack of light. But they were ten minutes away from the neighborhood, so the trip wouldn't be so bad from there on.

"So you still up for watching the playoff game next week?" asked Cloud, feeling a little more comfortable for talking now that they were out of Wall Market.

"Oh, of _course_," Zack answered with mock enthusiasm, "because I totally didn't bored at the last three games. Look man, basketball really isn't my thing."

"So I take that as a no, then?"

"Yep, that's a negatory there, buddy." There was a silence. "Hey, I never knew you were so into b-ball, Cloud."

Cloud shrugged. "I actually wanna join the team next year. It's good to be well-rounded."

"What, like Sephiroth?" Cloud hesitated to make a response. Fortunately Zack didn't wait for one. "Damn man, that guy's ripped like a Soldier," he said. "A _real_ Soldier. And I have no idea when he trains and everything, especially since he's at the top of the class, too. …Hmm, and he doesn't seem like the type to take steroids, either…"

"Maybe he was just born like that," Cloud suggested casually.

"Yeah, maybe. That could be it. Did you know that his dad's one of Shinra's top brass? He's the head scientist or something. So of course, his family's rich as hell. He doesn't like talking about it, but damn. What a lucky bastard."

Something suddenly occurred to Cloud. "I wonder why Seph goes to our shitty school then? If he's pretty well off and everything? Why can't he just go to some boarding school up on the plate or something?"

"Huh. Who knows? Maybe his dad's stingy and doesn't-"

Click. Click.

The boys paused. The noise sounded like it was coming from the alleyway ahead. Exchanging glances, they approached cautiously, posting themselves behind a dumpster. Voices sounded from within.

"…Shit's the best stuff you can get this side of the Eastern Hemisphere, my man," a fast talking guy was saying. A freshly-lit cigarette was dangling from his mouth, and he presently waved a small plastic baggie in front of another man's face, swinging it back and forth like a hypnotist would.

The customer eyed the baggie, a look of intense craving shining in his face. "Is it pure?"

"What the hell are you talking about? Of course it's pure! Check it yourself."

Zack looked over at Cloud. "Dude, it's a dealer."

"Yeah, no shit," said Cloud, watching. "You never seen one before?"

"Not around the neighborhood."

"Some of em hang around the Bunko Mart after school. That's why it's a pothead haven." The customer had apparently verified the authenticity of the goods, because he was forking over a good amount of gil for it. "You know, I think we'd better get outta here, dealers are known to be carrying when they're out this time of night."

Zack agreed. "Yeah, alright. It's just kinda weird…I've just never seen any of them before. All righty, we can go around the back way through-"

"Can I help you out, gentlemen?" asked a raspy voice.

Zack and Cloud jerked around to find a tall stick of a man smiling down at them; an unruly mass of shrubby hair vegetating from his head and spreading over his reeking old military jacket. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of the two boys' faces. "The fuck is this?" He said aloud.

The dealer within the alley noticed the man. "Hey, Spud! Who's that?"

'Spud' continued to stare at the nervous Zack and Cloud, as if the two were specimens. "Too young to be out…" he started, "Too clean to be customers…Too…_scared_ to know what kind of shit they're in right now." Spud licked his lips threateningly.

The guy couldn't have phrased it better.

"Hey! Who the fuck is it?"

Spud broke away from his glare at the boys, looking pissy. "Bitch, you wanna let me handle this myself!" He yelled.

The dealer's brow furrowed, upset with Spud's mouthing off. Without turning, he said to his customer, "Get outta here."

"I need change, I gave you 800 and you said it was 765-"

A pistol whipped out of the dealer's jacket and halted right at the guy's forehead. "You want a bullet with that change? Fucking vamoose, now!"

The guy didn't have to be told twice. He took his purchase and split faster than a fat guy's pants. The dealer again looked over at Spud. "You know, maybe, just _maybe_, I might have wanted to know who you were talking to because the bastard might've been a cop! You ever think about that?"

"I can tell the difference between a person and a cop, jackass," said Spud.

"Not an undercover cop!"

"Shit, like a pair of kids are gonna be undercover cops?"

The dealer blinked. "What did you say?"

Spud pulled Zack and Cloud from behind the dumpster into view, creating a crack in Zack's flower glass as he was tugged against the wall. "They're kids, idiot!"

"Kids?" he repeated, using the nozzle of his gun to scratch his head. "…Well, what the fuck are kids doing out here?"

"Shit, I don't know! They were watching you!" And for some reason, he looked over at Zack and Cloud. "What the fuck are you doing out here anyway?"

There wasn't a single thing either of them could say. And even if either boy could think of something brilliant, both were way too freaked out of their minds to speak.

"Goddamn, I _knew_ it!" yelled a voice.

Spud jumped, and his eyes darted behind him. By the entrance to the alley stood a figure in a denim jacket, with a green hood pulled over his head to hide himself. The stranger watched Spud with interest from under the hood.

"God fuckin' damn, I knew it," he said with an exaggerated cockney accent. "I leave this sector for a lousy noight, and already someone's taken over my spot."

The dealer took offense. "What the fuck are you talking about? This is _our_ spot, we've been here!"

"You weren't ere last week."

"We got busted!" he said furiously. "We were in jail for a few days, what do you expect?"

"Well, I wen' and claimed the spot," the stranger said simply. "And now I want it back."

"Look," Spud started, glaring at him, "don't you get it asshole? We were here first."

"Well, I can't bloody help it if you stupid fucks went and got yourselves caught. In fact, if I were you two, I would've moigrated already! No use operating where they know where to find-" He stopped, noticing Zack and Cloud. He gestured towards the flower still in Zack's hand. "Shit, what's the deal wi' you two? You a couple of fags or something?"

Cloud didn't know what to say. He wished the guy hadn't noticed them. But as the stranger neared him and Zack, Cloud suddenly realized what was up.

The stranger was Reno.

Spud looked severely pissed. "They're…our customers, dickhead!" he fumed.

"A bit young, don'cha think?" Asked Reno, still maintaining the accent. "Or have you gone into kiddie porn, too? Oh yeah, that's a bloody brilliant plan-" But the dealer had had enough. He raised his pistol once again. "Oh, another brilliant maneuver!" said Reno. "Tack murder onto your rap sheet, and then be sent up to Corel for 40 years! Oh, that's great."

"Count of three, fucker," he said, cocking his gun. "One."

There was no wavering on Reno's part. He was Mr. Cool Customer. "All roight, all roight, I get it. Don't bother. You blokes can have your spot, no violence. Come on." The dealer eyed him suspiciously, but finally put down his gun. "That's it. No violence. I'll just leave, and you all can get on with it." He turned, and a marble of some type fell out of his sleeve.

Spud saw it. "What the-"

Before he could finish, the marble exploded, emitting a thick orange fog into the alleyway. Cloud started to cough, but his arm was suddenly tugged at, and he heard Reno's voice yelling, "Run!" He could just make out his older brother delivering a punch to Spud's jaw.

All three of them scrambled out of the alley, turning towards their neighborhood. But before they continued on, Reno quickly snatched up a rock from the ground and hurled it at a nearby window. It was the local police precinct. He rushed back to Cloud and Zack and hustled them away from the sirens and noise.

* * *

Zack had hurried to his house, while Cloud and Reno quickly ducked into their front door, slamming it shut as soon as they were in. No one was home. Their mother had apparently stepped out. The TV was on, turned to 'World Sports Weekly.' In about an hour or so, news of the captured drug dealers would likely be on the same channel.

Exhausted, Cloud fell on the couch, starving but about ready to sleep. Reno was making for the stairs.

"Reno?" said Cloud. His brother turned around. Cloud hesitated to ask, once he saw the wariness in Reno's eyes. It was a total contrast from his cockney act in the alley. "Did you know we were there?"

Reno shook his head. "No. I was in the neighborhood."

"Where'd you get that thing from?" He was referring to the marble.

"A friend," Reno said simply. He turned around once again for the stairs, but Cloud had one more question.

"Reno," he started. Once again his brother halted, but did not turn around. "Are you alright?" It was a question he had not asked since the night of the concert. Frankly, he hadn't wanted to ask. But curiousity had just gotten the better of him, especially after what had just happened.

His brother didn't say anything, for a while. Finally, he muttered, "That's something I oughta be asking you, right?

"I'm just…concerned," said Cloud. That word sounded strange jumping off of his tongue. It was like a mystic word from some foreign tongue.

"Yeah, well, nobody needs to be." His brother ascended the stairs, and that was that.

* * *

**Well, I'm making progress with updates. Hopefully I'll have another one up by next Sunday. Some notes:**

**-Yes, I stole a line from "From Dusk Till Dawn." Oh, hush.**

**-Cockney accent from Lower Junon. …Really! Really, truly, why would I lie? …Okay, really? I just wantedto write someone talking in cockney. Even though I doubt I got all the terminology. Ah well.**

**-The guy in Wall Market (in the game) _should _be a pothead.**

**-Assume that Reno was talking about Corel Prison.**

**-No lyrics? I couldn't find any. Heh.**


	8. And just like the movies

_8. And just like the movies…_

Fortunately, Zack didn't tell Reeve or Aeris about what happened that night—or at least not to Cloud's knowledge. If Zack really did tell them, then his friends were being _extremely_ considerate in not bringing it up. Anyway, Cloud tried not to think about it so much. He had most of his attention focused on school—not on his studies, though. Tryouts for next year's football teams would be in a few weeks, and Cloud was hoping to be bumped up—not to JV, but straight to Varsity. Though he wasn't that tall yet, he still worked at improving his game, running laps at the school on weekends, making a few pathetic efforts at weight lifting, and forcing Zack to help him practice his tackle. But this was only whenever the guy wasn't busy working out his plan to woo Aeris—with the crucial daisy and glass of course. Cloud was pissed off to hell when he found out that Zack didn't give the damned plant to Aeris right away.

Speaking of Aeris, Cloud and Reeve decided to ask her if she would come with them to the basketball playoff on Friday. They told her about it as they were leaving Algebra, and at first, she looked as if she were being asked to go watch paint dry. But after Reeve's assurance that there would be "really kick ass hot dogs" being sold, she consented.

"I really don't see the point of basketball, though," she told them. "It's almost as bad as football."

Cloud looked fairly mortified. How dare she say such blasphemous things, especially while they were walking through a crowded hallway at school. Feeling a sort of responsibility in his position as the only athlete of the three, he took it upon himself to rebut Aeris. But just as he was about to launch into a passionate tirade, Reeve decided to cut in.

"Well, if you don't like it, why are you coming?" He asked her.

She let out a giggle. "Mostly to watch you two make asses of yourselves, I think."

"What?"

"Oh, you know. You gorging on hot dogs and Cloud gawking at that chick Tifa like a fat kid at a vending machine."

At that comment…well, you can guess what happened. Reeve doubled over in hysterics like a jackass while Cloud glared at Aeris, bewildered and looking more livid than before.

"Who told you that!" Cloud demanded. He glared over at Reeve. "Did you tell her!"

"What? No!" Reeve said, though the laughing didn't really help his case.

"Oh, come on," said Aeris matter-of-factly, "it's so obvious. You're horrible at being discreet."

"Man, but I love the fat kid comment! It's so true!"

"Reeve!"

"Thanks! I was either going to use that or creepy stalker."

"I am _not_ a fat kid or a creepy stalker!" Cloud insisted furiously. No, dude, I'm serious, she's dead-on!" Reeve said excitedly. "You do this thing sometimes where you're sitting in class and you look all dazed-"

"-Yeah! And his mouth hangs open and he starts salivating-"

"-And then he starts licking his lips and goes to himself, 'Dayum, look at that ass! Now I would like to get me some of that fine piece of-'"

Before he could finish, Reeve found himself immediately shoved into a giggling Aeris, after which Cloud stormed off to his locker. The two exchanged glances of congratulations as they continued snickering.

"I think you went a little overboard," said Aeris, "but I admit, that was extremely funny."

"Well, you set it all up very nicely, Aeris. Good teamwork there. You wanna be my partner in crime? Help me mock the hell outta Zack and Cloud everyday?"

Aeris giggled. "But Reeve, then who would be there to mock _you_?"

* * *

As he stormed off, Cloud found someone standing by his locker as he approached. It was Reno.

Cloud never did like seeing his older brother at school, and the last place he ever wanted to meet him was his locker, which was only five spots away from Tifa's. But given Reno's recent behavior along with what happened the other night, Cloud was more surprised than embarrassed to see him waiting there.

"What are you doing here?" Cloud asked. His brother was wearing the slightest of grins on his face.

"Waiting for you, punk." Reno slammed his fist on Cloud's locker, Fonzie style, and it popped open, ready for use. Cloud smirked.

"Back to thinking you're a cool guy again?"

"Well, I suppose I'm at least cool enough for you to not shun me away out of embarrassment. Here's your lock, by the way." He dropped a small bulk of metal and springs into Cloud's hand. Before Cloud could ask, Reno answered, "payback for swiping those waffles off of my plate this morning."

Cloud stared. "And, how old are you again?"

"Not old enough to care, I can tell you that."

Cloud shook his head, ducking into his locker to retrieve his books. "Er…were you going to ask me about something, then?"

A few books slipped out, and surprisingly, Reno bent down to pick them up for his brother. "Actually, I'm waiting for Pete and Biggs."

"Why don't you meet at Pete's locker then?" He knew that Biggs didn't have one, for some outrageous reason or another.

"Because Pete, being the idiot that he is, keeps his shit in there. If I stand around there too long, I'll smell like a damn drug addict."

"You don't seem to have a problem with helping out drug addicts," Cloud muttered scornfully, stuffing a pile of papers back into his locker.

Reno looked over at his brother strangely, but then suddenly grinned, looking horribly amused. "Oh, I'm _terribly_ sorry," he said sarcastically, though he didn't look in the least bit angry. "Were you thanking me for saving you and your buddy's sorry asses the other night? No? Well gracious, I must need to get my ears checked…"

"Fuck you," Cloud muttered, shutting his locker and turning away from his brother.

"Well that definitely didn't sound like 'thank you.'"

"So now you're officially back, huh?" Cloud asked coldly. "You're back doing your old jackass crap and everything's back to normal, fine, and wonderful, right?"

"You could say that, I guess."

"But this new crap you're pulling now is ridiculous, Reno. You think that dealers don't get caught?" Reno chuckled in response, looking smug and unconcerned. "Geez, this time you have really crossed the line."

Reno rolled his eyes. "You know, for me the line seems to keep moving forward, so I don't think I can ever really quite cross it."

"Reno…"

"Cloud, do you have any idea what I'm _really_ doing?" He asked with a smirk. "Hm? I am doing something _worthwhile_ man, something meaningful."

Cloud stared incredulously. "…Do you honestly expect me to dignify that with a response?"

With a chuckle, Reno said, as cryptic as ever, "Someday you will. Believe me. In fact, I think eventually you're gonna realize that I'm not as crazy as everyone will tell-"

He stopped abruptly as a passing shoulder collided with his. Cloud, noticing the interruption, turned to see Elena walking by. Despite her apparently hurried pace, a quick glimpse of her was enough to indicate that she looked pretty damn pissed off, hurt flooding her azure eyes. And from the dazed way Reno was glancing after her, Cloud had an idea of whom she was mad at.

"Fucking shit," Reno muttered as he turned away from Elena, severe annoyance apparent in his eyes.

"What's with her?" Cloud asked him. "You guys get in a fight?"

Reno dropped his look of surprise and resumed his cool composure immediately, taking care to shrug lazily in reply. "Eh…Who knows what's up her ass. Probably that time of month." Though Reno was always so good at keeping a poker face, he had such an obvious tell at the moment. Plus, Cloud had previously noticed that out of all of Reno's friends, Elena was apparently the one his brother made the least contact with since the Battle of the Bands.

"I gotta be goin anyway," Reno suddenly said. "It's getting late."

"What? Cloud asked, a bit startled. Since when was Reno ever concerned about a tardy? "Hey wait, weren't you gonna wait for Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum?"

He shook his head impatiently. "I'm sick of waiting for those stupid fucks. Especially if they're going to go _screw_ around before giving me a straight answer." He made a lot of emphasis on that sentence before turning around and setting off for class, throwing a hand up in the air above him in a sort of passive goodbye. "Tell em that if you see em, they'll get the point."

What the 'point' was, Cloud obviously didn't get. He figured it might have to do with why Elena was so pissed off with Reno. He confirmed it once he saw the black eye and nosebleed Biggs and Pete were each respectively sporting as they passed by the football field after school, disappointment having been punched into their faces. It was evident Reno had made sure they had gotten the point.

* * *

"…And Seph Hojo catches the rebound, drives down the court…passes to Mallick…over to Hewson—oh, Littlefield nearly succeeded in blocking that one…back to Sephiroth…he shoots…and nails it! Sector Six High is now back in the lead, 23-20!"

A fervent home crowd jumped to its feet in excitement, a mighty roar of cheers and applause resounding through the gym. Cloud stood on the home bleachers as well, proudly yelling "Go Chimeras!" along with the rest. Beside him were Aeris, who wasn't as enthusiastic but still appeared to be having a good time, and Reeve, who was busy scarfing down his concession stand feast.

"A chimera's a weird school mascot," Aeris commented, as Cloud sat back down.

"It's not," Cloud said insistently, "chimeras are strong and intimidating. Like our team. So it fits."

"Like Sephiroth, you mean," said Reeve, in between bites. "He pretty much_ is_ the team, he's been scoring like two-thirds of our points. Bet his old man over there's happy." Cloud looked behind him over to where Reeve was pointing. There was a thin, pale man standing on the top row of bleachers, alone and watching the game without the slightest indication of enthusiasm in his countenance. As he watched his son continuously round the court and shoot baskets, he looked very vigilant and calculating, as if scrutinizing the boy carefully. He had a very creepy, intimidating air about him, one that made Cloud a little uneasy while watching the man.

"Well, I still don't like it," said Aeris, who hadn't really cared enough to look. "It doesn't fit Sephiroth or anyone on the team. Chimeras are too bizarre and off-the-wall."

"You should see the mascot at Upper Sector Six High," said Reeve. "They're the chocobos! Man, is that awesome or what? Why can't we be the chocobos?"

"Because none of us want to do the damn chicken dance whenever we get a victory," said Cloud, irritated that a conversation on mascots was interrupting his watching of the game.

"That's a hell of a lot better than watching the cheerleaders," said Aeris. "Although I imagine that sentiment only applies to two of us here, Cloud?"

Cloud smirked. "Haha, funny. You two going to hassle me about Tifa now?"

"No," said Reeve quickly, before Aeris could answer, "because I wanna know why Aeris is implying that I don't like cheerleaders? Because I do, you know." Reeve looked slightly irate.

"I didn't mean that you don't like cheerleaders, Reeve," said Aeris, laughing. "I was just trying to single out Cloud for staring at Tifa all the time."

"I stare at the cheerleaders all the time!" Reeve proclaimed defensively. "You know, maybe even more so that Cloud, sometimes…You guys probably just don't really see how much I…"

Cloud decided to cut in. "Dude, no one thinks you're gay, alright?"

Cloud said this rather loudly, and a chest-painted sophomore standing in the row right below them suddenly turned to stare at the three upon hearing the word "gay." In an attempt to get the guy to turn around, Reeve grinned awkwardly at him. This was apparently wrong though, because it prompted the guy to quickly scoot down to the row below him. Aeris starting laughing, causing Reeve to go red.

"Uh, thanks for clarifying, Cloud," Reeve muttered to his friend.

"No problem," said Cloud, attempting to hide snickers. Eventually, he decided to go down for a soda. It was only going to be the end of the second quarter, and he figured that leaving Aeris to tease Reeve about his sexuality would do wonders in damaging Reeve's comedic superiority complex over everyone.

The line at the concession stand, as it turned out, extended all the way to the restrooms, and when Cloud got in, he happened to be standing right next to the women's room. _Wonderful, _he thought. _Now I look like a perv or something._

And, unfortunately, Cloud ended up looking like a perv to the one and only Tifa, because she walked out of the restroom and bumped right into him seconds after he had stepped in line. Cloud's face instantly flushed a cherry red as he apologized profusely for getting in the way.

"Oh my god," he started anxiously, "Tifa, I am so so sorry…"

"No, it's alright," she answered, looking over at him. "Oh, hey Cloud!"

"Uh, hey," he replied uncomfortably, scratching his head.

_Wow, what a conversationalist I am._

"Great game, huh?" She asked, stepping in line next to him.

"Er…stupendous," he blurted out.

…_The fuck? Did I just use the word 'stupendous' to describe a high school basketball game?_

Tifa chuckled. "Did you just say 'stupendous.?''

_At least we think alike. Sort of._

"Yeah…"

_I should probably cut it out with the one-word answers, though. At least I'm not blabbering…_

"You dork!" she teased. "You trying to be all cool by showing off your vocabulary?"

"Of course not," he started. "I'm just…trying to expand my everyday language. I'm being innovative. I'm…exploring new words…"

_'Exploring?' Cloud, what are you doing…?_

But much to his dismay, he continued on. "…Er, I mean, I'm not trying to be like a nerd, though, or like how Mr. Liebowitz always throws in random big words into his lectures…"

_Good lord, stop, now! Shut the hell up, you idiot! Oh god, oh god…Where's the emergency shut-off switch in this damn kid's brain!_

"-Like a jackass or something," Cloud found himself saying, "I mean, he acts like a total know-it-all or a pompatus or something."

_…Okay, what the hell is a 'pompatus?'_

Tifa was staring at him now, with a strange smile that was half-courteous and half "what on earth are you going on about?" But, luckily for Cloud, she decided to disregard this strange dialogue and get on a new topic. She looked back towards the gym.

"Wow, nice shot," she said, watching as Sephiroth sank another one.

"Yeah," Cloud commented. "He's pretty damn good."

The announcer's voice came in over the loudspeaker again. "And Seph Hojo's made another one, widening the gap between the Sector Six Chimeras and the Sector Four Tigers to twelve points!"

"Cloud don't you play basketball?" Tifa inquired, as the team made another trip down the court.

"Uh, no, just football, actually…I do plan on joining next season, though."

"That's a good idea," she said encouragingly. "I hear the practices aren't so bad…and the basketball guys are _really_ funny; you'll like them. And then you'll see me cheering at your games next year, huh?"

"I suppose so," Cloud answered, internally pleased at the thought. "Uh, speaking of cheering, don't you have to-"

"Go back out there? Oh no, Varsity is up right now. We don't come back on until after halftime."

"Ohh."

"It's really fun," she continued, "because then I'll usually meet up with friends and start chatting, you know? Like what I'm doing with you right now."

Cloud's eyes widened. He had to look the other way so that Tifa wouldn't notice. _Did she just say that? She actually considers me a friend? _His pathetic feelings of boyhood loser-ness from earlier were starting to subside into…pathetic feelings of puppy love elation. Eh, it was a decent change. He was obviously very pleased. They watched the game silently for a while, with only 8.6 seconds left in the second quarter.

The Tigers presently had a hold of the ball, and had been carrying it for the past few seconds. But this was quickly fixed in the Chimeras' favor. The cheering of the crowd crescendoed to a peak as the ball was passed to the ever-dependable Sephiroth. The seconds ticked by as he furiously drove down the court to his goal. At four seconds, he was stopped by a guard. From there, everything proceeded in slow motion…at three, he pivoted away to the left…at two, he made the jump, was about to shoot—

BANG BANG!

With that, shots of a different shot hit, resounding through the gym and instantly silencing the stunned crowd.

The slow motion seemed to continue on, but this time, the effect was more surreal. It was dreamlike. Two bullets had struck Sephiroth, one in the arm and one in the stomach. The young basketball star dropped to the gym floor, his ball bouncing away from his bleeding form. That was when the screaming ensued: cheers of "Chimeras!" had instantly amended into cries of frenzied panic, and both crowds dispersed in a flurry of chaos. School security guards had started whistling and shouting orders to the panicked fans, attempting to instill some kind of order.

Cloud watched the surreal scene with an enchanted numbness, staring in bewilderment at the movie-like scene: there was the pained Sephiroth panting and bleeding on the floor as several adults, including his suddenly animated father, came up and started trying to help him. Furious, Dr. Hojo cleared out most of the others, attempting to help out his son himself. But he was restrained, and the school nurse was allowed to work on Seph until the paramedics arrived.

Next to Cloud, Tifa was in shock, her mouth half open in distressed horror. "Oh my god…" she whispered. Cloud couldn't say anything to her, and continued to watch the scene with helpless dread. Soon they were encountered by the terrified crowd, and were caught in with the current of people making for the exits.

Outside a cacophony of screams and approaching sirens mixed into the soundtrack of almost riotous fans scrambling out of the gym. The crowd was packed so tightly that Cloud hadn't really moved far from Tifa, and he broke out of his trance long enough to start looking around to see if Reeve and Aeris had gotten out. But in his scan of the crowd, he caught a glimpse of someone looking very suspect: it appeared to be a lean masked man emerging from the back of the building—from an exit no one had used.

He wasn't quite sure what came over him. It was some kind of intuition that worked in his head, an instinctive action. Once he saw it, he suddenly found himself going after the figure, prying through the crowd in his pursuit. Tifa yelled at Cloud, but he couldn't hear; he was too engrossed in the chase. He felt fearfully curious about this man; an almost predictive feeling of dread drove him to pursue the stranger. Once he was off of the school grounds he broke into a run down the street, keeping his mark in sight as the man rounded a corner and entered an abandoned building.

Cloud ran in, entering just as the guy had scrambled up the staircase to the second floor. He followed him doggedly all the way up to the fourth floor, where he found a door leading to the roof. Panting and scared, Cloud opened it, walking out to find the man standing on the ledge. He had removed his ski mask. Cloud could see him more closely now, and his worst fears were confirmed.

"Reno!" he yelled at him, a wave of anxious fear passing over him. His brother turned around.

Clad in all black, and holding a gun in one hand, Reno stared back at his younger brother with seriousness in his eyes. There was a clear anxiety marked in Reno's face, a look of genuine fear for something he had done.

"Reno," Cloud said, his stomach twisting, "what…what did you…"

"I'm sorry, Cloud," said Reno simply, as he turned around to face the traffic below again. "I've made a horrible mistake."

"Reno, why? Why Sephiroth, why did you do it?"

"No!" he yelled. "You don't see, I mean…this wasn't the fucking way it was supposed to fucking be!" Reno reached into his jacket pocket, and, fingers trembling, he took out a cigarette, stuck it in his mouth, and lit it, puffing on it nervously. "I didn't mean to shoot him, goddamn it!"

"Reno…" Cloud started, growing more scared for his brother by the second. "Reno, what are you doing with yourself? First the drugs, now this? I don't-"

"-Jesus, Cloud!" Reno interrupted. "You still think that I'm a drug dealer? Holy shit…" He took a drag of his cigarette, and before Cloud could ask what he was talking about, he spoke again. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter now. I…I need to get going, Cloud."

"Reno, don't!" Cloud implored desperately, scared to approach him. "Don't jump! Get down, please, don't kill yourself!"

"Good god, that's not what I'm doing!" Reno yelled angrily, turning to face Cloud again. "Cloud, just…just trust me, I know what I'm doing, now I have to fucking go!"

"But what about Mom?" Cloud pleaded, coming closer to his brother. "What about me? Reno, you can't do this!"

Noticing Cloud's approach, Reno jumped back onto the roof and halted in front of him. "Stop," he ordered, holding his brother back by the shoulders.

"Reno, please…"

"You trust me, don't you?"

Distraught, Cloud didn't answer. "Please man, please, don't do this-"

Out of nowhere, Reno punched Cloud right in the jaw, knocking him down to the floor. Cloud stared back at his brother, dazed. "Answer me!" Reno yelled at him. "Do you trust me?"

"I…"

"Yes or no, Cloud?"

"Yes!" Cloud said finally. "I trust you, Reno!"

"Then let me do this!" Reno shouted, walking away and stepping back onto the ledge. "I've done something wrong, and now I have to fix it. You have to have some faith in me, Cloud, it's the truth."

He looked back over the edge, no longer watching the traffic below with uneasy fear. He had resolve written in his face; he was absolutely determined to carry out his next course of action. He turned to face his younger brother once again. "This is going to be good-bye, Cloud, at least for a while. I hope you and mom can get along without me. Watch over her, alright?" He paused, and then added, "And for god's sake, Cloud, make sure you grow a fucking backbone before the next time I see you, okay?" Reno made one last check of the street below, and looked over once again at his very confused brother. "See ya around, Cloud."

And with that, Reno's heels elevated off of the ledge, and he allowed himself to fall off, dropping out of sight.

"RENO!"

Cloud hurried to the ledge, looking over for any sight of his brother. And he found him. Reno had dove right into a dump truck, and had made a safe landing. He didn't dare look back up at Cloud. Cloud watched as the truck sped up the road, staring at Reno as he and the truck disappeared into the city.

He was gone.

* * *

**Late updates again, what else is new? Anyway…yes. Very interesting turn of events, no? You'll see what's next… Oh, and title refers to the Alien Ant Farm song, "Movies."**


	9. Nice Dream

_Yes, after over a year, I have returned, just like General Douglas McArthur! (Um, go Wikipedia him.) But I actually have a pretty good reason: I've been in college. I knew that updates would slow down even more than usual, but I never intended to completely ignore it. I mean, I did work on it from time to time but only finished it recently. Anyway, hopefully updates will be more frequent this summer. Enjoy!_

* * *

**9. Nice Dream**

Cloud woke up outside at school to find out that the entirety of the previous year was all a bad dream. Relieved, he then proceeded to grow up, marry Tifa, have lots of sex with her, produce a boatload of kids, brilliantly become a millionaire, and otherwise just set himself up very nicely for the rest of his life. Oh, and Reno disappeared and died or something, which was to the chagrin of no one. The end.

…Sure.

This lovely turn of events probably had more likelihood of happening in a dream. And like his all dreams, it would have had to end badly, with Cloud waking up to find Reno alive and well in his shower or something, spilling all the shampoo and leaving nasty hair stuck all over the soap for Cloud to use.

Jackass.

_He is a jackass, isn't he? _Cloud thought, sitting against a fence, watching the other kids playing basketball in the distance._ Reno was fucking born one. Now and forever a jackass, just like back then…_

* * *

"Cloud…come on, Cloud, its okay, get up...come on, it's just a scratch…There you go. You wanna try again?" 

Six year-old Cloud Strife shook his head fervently, eyes wide open in childish terror. His father smiled down at him encouragingly, though the laughter coming from behind him didn't really help.

"Reno, stop laughing at your brother," Mr. Strife said sternly. He was a short, easy-going yet pragmatic man; indeed, he would have been shorter than Reno and eventually Cloud if he had lived. But his famous resolve, along with the secure way with which he always carried himself, were always features that many of his neighbors and friends found admirable. In short, he was one of the most respected men in the slums.

"Dude, Cloud, that was funny!" Shouted a younger, but no less annoying, Reno. "You just flew over the handlebars!"

"Reno!"

"Sorry, sir."

Mr. Strife turned again to his younger son. "Do you want to try it again?"

"No!" Cloud yelled insistently.

"But don't you want to learn how to ride a bike?"

"No!" he yelled stubbornly, "bikes are for fags."

Mr. Strife's eyes widened. "Cloud, don't use that word! Geez…who taught you that?"

A little finger pointed past his father's head, right at Reno. Mr. Strife shook his head. "Young man, we are going to have a little talk later, do you hear?" he told Reno. "Go inside."

The boy nodded and sulked inside, but not before shooting a nasty scowl at his little brother. His father noticed, and barked at his son to quit. Once Reno had retreated inside, Mr. Strife sighed. He really wondered about his oldest son sometimes. He looked over at Cloud, who was staring at the ground. "Cloud, don't pay attention to your brother. You can still learn how to ride a bike."

Cloud's head stayed drooped. "No I can't."

"Yes, you can son. You just had a little setback. That's how life is, you find obstacles, you confront them, and then you just keep on going. Come on, Cloud, try it again."

"No!" he yelled again. "It hurt when I fell on the ground!"

"Well then, don't fall there again," he chuckled.

Cloud screwed up his face. "That's not funny!" The boy pouted.

"But it's true! You know that if you want to succeed, all you have to do is concentrate and not fall. Not that hard, is it?"

"Yes it is."

Mr. Strife sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "Cloud, let me offer you a piece of advice, something you should always remember."

"What?" He asked huffily.

His father smiled. "Hey! Hey you sleepin'? Wake up!"

Mr. Strife's voice suddenly changed, and Cloud felt his father kick him in the foot. His eyelids blinked open, and he saw a very tall man looming over him.

"Hey," the stranger said, lightly kicking Cloud's foot again. "Come on now, get up."

Cloud saw that he was on the school grounds, the outdoor basketball courts standing before him. He had apparently fallen asleep. He put two and two together, and the terrible realization came to him:

"Goddamn, its fall," he said aloud.

The man chuckled. "My exact sentiments when I woke up this morning." He helped Cloud to his feet. He didn't seem so tall anymore, now that Cloud was up. "What year are ya now kid? Sophomore?"

It took Cloud some thought. "…Yeah, yeah, that's right. How did you know?"

"Well, you look young enough to be a freshman, except a freshman doesn't fall into the habit of slacking off quite as quickly as you do." It was an amusing comment, which Cloud would have gladly laughed at it he hadn't been in a state of uninterrupted depression for the past few months. Instead he gave the man a slight grin.

"Now, uh, I think you've got a class to go to, huh?" The man asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Cloud answered. The man was being very patient with Cloud and his slow reaction time. Cloud certainly didn't think he deserved the politeness. "Thanks."

"No problem. But if you do that again, I'm gonna have to leave you for security. Get what I mean?" Cloud nodded. The guy was obviously a teacher. He was middle-aged, clearly didn't want to be here, and wore a very haggard face, despite the fact that his dark hair didn't possess a single trace of gray.

Cloud expressed his thanks to him again, and then walked off towards the building, fishing around in his pocket for his schedule and looking for his watch. There was still fifteen minutes left in first period, which was…Geometry, with a Mrs. Harland. Cloud sighed.

When he got to class, the first person he met eyes with as he passed through the doorway were those of the inimitable Mrs. Harland, or as everyone else called her, 'Big Bird'. This was due to her enormous nose and poofed, feather-like 60 year-old hair. In all honesty, she was probably more like Oscar the Grouch.

"I'm guessing you're Cloud Strife?" She asked grumpily, snatching the schedule he was holding out to her. Thankfully, she seemed to have lived on a desolate island for much of the summer, because she didn't recognize his name from the news.

"Yes ma'am, sorry I'm late."

"And just why are you late, hm?"

Cloud hesitated at first, but there really wasn't any other way of phrasing it. "Overslept."

As predicted, she eyed him carefully. "On the first day of school?" He nodded. Cloud could already tell that he wouldn't like Geometry as much as Algebra. Harland seemed to confirm that with a grin that was all but good-natured. A grin that seemed to say, "You have just given me permission to _bury_ you this year." Lovely.

She let him sit down, and, uneasy, he made his way to the back of the class. With his eyes, he made a quick sweep of the class as he walked through the rows. And as he noticed the cold, unfriendly looks of his classmates all directed straight at him, he found something even more disheartening than a year of hell with Big Bird; a year of hell with Big Bird without any of his friends.

* * *

It had been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad summer. And it had started with the end of last year. In the aftermath of Reno's shooting, the entire school population went to pieces. School was closed for nearly a week, and once the doors reopened, many parents still wouldn't let their kids go. Students at school, meanwhile, would randomly break down crying in the hallways during passing periods. Panic and fear were abundant in the air, far more abundant than the norm at a slums school. 

A lot of attention was centered on the fate of Sephiroth Hojo; vigils were held outside his hospital for three days, until he woke up. But he didn't come back for the rest of the semester. And with his father tenaciously barring everyone from visiting Seph for the next few months, it was doubtful he ever would return.

The only other person who received as much attention as Sephiroth was Cloud. For him, and his mother, everything that had happened right after the moment Reno jumped off of that building was a never ending nightmare. The worst part was at the police station, after the police questioned him and he gave his story. His mother was soon called down, and as Cloud watched her listen to the police detective's report of the situation, he witnessed one of the most painful scenes he'd ever have to watch.

He could see his mother's tears traveling down her quivering cheek, trailing in a mess of mini-mart brand foundation and mascara. He could hear her breath suspend several times through the detective's narrative, then heard it draw in slowly, as if she was afraid to take any of it in. He saw her jaw open in a look of afflicted disbelief that extended itself across the rest of her worn facial features. The twisting of her skirt in her right hand, the trembling of her other hand as it rested anxiously on the table—he hated watching that goddamned scene. A twisted pain grew in his chest.

Cloud could literally see his mother's heart breaking.

The relentless media coverage was just as unnerving. The next morning, Reno's face was all over the news. As early as the afternoon, the Strifes found their front step swarming with reporters, all of them prying and intrusive and none of them genuinely sympathetic. They were there for several days, and their constant snooping eventually drove Mrs. Strife to lock herself inside, unwilling to leave the house. Pissed, Cloud attempted to force them away himself, but whenever he went outside to do it, they would drown out his voice with their constant barrage of questions. Eventually, the police agreed to post a guard outside to stop the reporters from bothering them.

And school? In a word: hellish. For a whole month, no one would speak to Cloud except for Zack; Reeve and Aeris had been among the kids forced to stay at home by their parents. And though Zack proved to be fiercely loyal and had tried his best to distract him from it all (until he had to go back to Gongaga for the summer, that is), Cloud couldn't avoid that aloofness and fear he sensed among his classmates. It seemed like no one quite knew what to think of the brother of the guy who gunned down Sephiroth. Even Tifa seemed to be avoiding him. It was terribly depressing. The fact that Mrs. Richter had scheduled "therapy" sessions with him everyday after school didn't help either; it only seemed to indicate that everyone had started seeing Cloud himself as a psycho too.

And after a while, Cloud started to wonder if they were right.

* * *

After a painstakingly slow morning (accentuated with the always delightful dirty looks thrown at him by classmates), Cloud sauntered by the lunch room, trying not to attract attention while thinking to himself. He was wondering if sitting outside and going hungry was preferable to walking in, sitting down, and eating while enduring shouts of "fag" and "dickhead" and other various threats. Starvation was looking attractive. 

"Oh my god, Cloud!"

Cloud had no time to turn around before Aeris lunged at him with arms wide open, engaging Cloud in a great, big, Aeris-bear hug.

"A-Aeris?" Cloud gasped, fairly surprised to find that she could hug so damn hard. It also occurred to him that this was the first time she had ever hugged him or any of his friends. This was a pretty sharp contrast from the first time she met them last spring.

"Oh my god, oh my god, I am soo sorry!" she was saying as she squeezed him, as if he would disappear if she didn't. "I wish I could have visited you after that night! You must have had the _worst_ summer!"

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't apologize in the same way, Cloud," said Reeve, walking up to them with Zack in tow. "Uh, Aeris? You wanna stop strangling Cloud like a godless killing machine?"

"Shut the hell up Reeve," she said, still not letting go of Cloud.

"I think Cloud forgives you, Aeris," Zack told her, looking slightly peeved at this scene.

"I do, really!" Cloud panted, suddenly very aware of how her hug was affecting his blood circulation. Finally she let go, and he started breathing heavily, as if he'd just ran a few miles. But truthfully, he was happy to see them. It was a sight for sore eyes, really, and it distracted him from all the memories of that fateful—

"—Do you hate us?" Aeris asked, interrupting his thoughts. She looked at Cloud worriedly.

"For what?" Cloud said, rather quickly.

"For, you know, making no contact with you since the basketball game," said Reeve, who appeared genuinely concerned. "Seriously man, I feel really terrible about it, honest."

"We both feel terrible, Cloud," Aeris added. "But the day after that my mom withdrew me from school, and forbade me from visiting you or going to Sector Six."

"Same here. Actually, it was my dad, and then it was only the first part, but yeah, same difference. Uh, so…" he started cautiously, "…are you alright, man?"

---------------

All three of them watched Cloud carefully, as if they were diffusing a delicate bomb or something. Very much aware of this, Cloud, to their surprise, snorted. "Uh…heheh, that depends," he said.

"Er…" Zack started, confused. "Depends on what?"

"Pssh, on what you idiots give me for my birthday, obviously!" Cloud exclaimed, punching Zack playfully in the shoulder. "Fuck, it was a week and a half ago, remember?"

Zack let out a relieved laugh. "Aw damn, it was, huh?"

"Whoa, that's right, the 28th!" Reeve concurred, happy that they were able to settle back into their familiar banter so quickly. He enjoyed banter. "So whatcha want, some porno mags?"

"Oh, of course, I'd love some handpicked from your private stash, Reeve," he answered bemusedly.

This prompted an approving hoot from Zack. "Looks like you're the one who got served for once, hahah!"

"Nah, not really," said Reeve nonchalantly.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"Cuz your mom's in the mags."

This prompted yet another snort from Cloud, then a round of laughs from all of them. Even Zack thought it was funny as hell, mainly because was too happy to see Reeve and his dumb face again to care about preserving his mother's dignity.

The only one who didn't laugh, however, was Aeris. She had been silent and, frankly, very very confused, the entire time. It didn't make sense. "So, Cloud, seriously…are you okay?"

Cloud was still chuckling. "Heheh, what? Oh, pssh, yeah, don't worry about me, I'm just glad to see you and these two stooges again." He looked strangely happy, even for his usual self.

"Hey, let's get some lunch," said Reeve, leading the way into the cafeteria. "I was reading this book on food products this summer, I can give you guys an extreme and unnecessarily detailed analysis of the common ingredient in both the sloppy joe's _and_ the fish sticks."

"Dude, that's disgusting," Cloud said, somewhat repulsed. But he followed Reeve anyway, telling him that he needed to stop reading books by crackpot conspiracy theorists that lived in their parents' basements. Zack was about to follow suit, when he felt a hand hold his shoulder back.

"Zack, did you think that was weird?" asked Aeris, sounding concerned.

Zack didn't catch on as quickly, mostly because his heart started doing back flips in his chest when Aeris touched him. Unfortunately he still hadn't gotten over her, despite a summer of separation. "Er, um, what was?" he stammered.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe Cloud's freaky readiness to forgive us for practically abandoning him all summer?" she started. "He doesn't usually take things like that so lightly."

"Oh, uh, you know, that wasn't really our fault," said Zack, struggling just to get on topic. His eyes were wandering around the hallway just to concentrate. "He probably, you know, understands that your mom's kinda overprotective, and he knows that Reeve's dad is a douche."

"No, with Cloud…I don't think life is quite that simple…" she said, pausing to think. "Hey, you stayed till the end of last year, right?"

Zack had to think hard about that, the poor boy. "Uh…yeah. Yes. I did indeed do that." He said this in an awkward monotone.

"Well, how was he? Was he depressed? …Zack!" His gaze quickly redirected straight to her, alert. "Stop daydreaming, pay attention! Was Cloud okay after the shooting?"

"Er, well…" And out of the blue, he sighed heavily. At the mention of the shooting, he suddenly became somber, disregarding any distractions. He looked at Aeris seriously. "Man, I don't know. The day we came back, I asked him if he was okay, but he wouldn't answer me straight. He was sort of quiet and sullen the entire time. People in the halls would yell shi--er, insults at him, and he would just kinda take it. I was the one who was yelling back at them and getting into fights for him."

Aeris listened silently, taken aback by Zack's unexpected honesty and sincerity. "Oh my god," she started. "I didn't know this…I mean I guess it's kind of obvious with him, but I didn't really think…" She sighed. "Poor Cloud…So, he didn't do anything about it…at all?"

He shook his head sympathetically, thinking about his friend for a moment. "I guess you can't really blame him though; even if he did fight back, they probably would have started claiming he was violent too and written him off as a Reno carbon copy. That's sort of what Richter figured; she signed him up for 'therapy' towards the end of the year. But everyone else, I figure they basically would've used that as an excuse to kick him out of school. Geez…now that I think about it…I guess everyone was pretty much after him then."

"At least you were there for him," Aeris told him reassuringly. And she really was happy for that fact.

"Yeah, well," Zack said, somewhat resigned. "I have no clue whether or not that helped."

* * *

_Yes, Reno will return too. Don't get your panties in a wad! _


	10. Confronting Disasters

**10. Confronting Disasters**

That first lunchtime of the year was one of the first times Cloud had had real fun in months. Reeve and Aeris still seemed a little cool and formal towards Cloud at first, but eventually things were right back to normal. Reeve and Zack were a riot, as always, and Aeris eventually warmed up and started helping Cloud critique the contents of Zack's hot dog combo, which made him lose his appetite. Cloud was even happier to find out that he, Reeve, and Zack shared the same Chemistry class after lunch. Aeris was kind of sour on this, though; she once again complained about how the school had sabotaged her schedule and not allowed her to register for Chemistry, which was full (according to the front office staff, at least). Instead, she was taking Biology.

"Geez, what's your problem?" Reeve asked her, when she started sulking. "I thought you liked Biology because of the flowers and pretty animals and skipping and whatnot."

"I took Bio last fall, at my old school, remember?" Aeris snapped. "But they wouldn't accept my class credit, because we didn't do any animal dissections. I thought I'd take chemistry instead, so I could study compounds for plant food, but those stupid administrators have apparently screwed me over again. I'll see you guys later."

The boys waved at Aeris as she turned and set off down the hall in the opposite direction. "You'd think they'd at least _try_ to make up for shuffling her between schools last spring," said Zack. "Even _I_ don't have that much trouble with scheduling, and I'm an out-of-townie."

"Such is the plight of a Sector Five tree-hugger caught in the cogs of the system," Reeve replied simply, with mock musing. He opened the door to the classroom.

The boys settled in two of the lab tables, Cloud and Zack sitting together while Reeve took a seat next to Joanie Hayes, one of Aeris' friends (whom Aeris had 'introduced' Zack to last March). She smiled reluctantly at Reeve; apparently she was waiting for another friend to partner with.

Zack and Reeve struck up a conversation with Joanie; Cloud decided that he didn't want in and chose instead to stare blankly with his mouth wide open at a chart detailing the oh-so-fascinating process of materia formation. He did listen to their conversation passively (about Joanie's trip to Costa Del Sol this summer), and noticed that Joanie preferred to talk to Zack than listen to Reeve's quality talk on motorboat mechanics.

The bell soon rang and the teacher walked in, casually slamming the door behind him. It didn't seem deliberate, but it did shut up the entire class at once and drew them to a rare state of attention. Cloud immediately realized that the man who had walked in was the very same guy who had shaken him out of a similar state of unconsciousness just that morning. He thought the guy looked a little less tired than before.

"Good afternoon, I suppose I should say," the teacher started, more out of courtesy than certainty on the time of day. "I'm Mr. Black, Stan Black, this is Chemistry, and uh, you are all in for a lovely, wonderful, totally _awesome_ year of science. Hooray for you all, eh?"

Mr. Black's deadpan delivery earned a big laugh from the class, settling them down a lot. He chuckled. "Nah seriously, I'm not Mrs. Sheldon or Mrs. Richter or anything, so, uh, if you find yourselves wishin I was as _honest_ and _drop-dead gorgeous_ as those two-" again came another roar from the class, "and sugar-coated my teaching with as much saccharine as they did, then you'll probably want to transfer out."

Chemistry was shaping up to be a damn good class. After discussing the class content and going over lab rules (in a somewhat derisive tone, at least until he got to chemical handling, at which point he spoke very seriously), Mr. Black had them try out a simple penny-cleaning lab with varying amounts of hydrochloric acid, warning against spraying the damn squirt bottles at each other instead of the pennies.

Fairly well trained with water guns, Cloud clutched his 'weapon' like a pro, grinning mischievously at Reeve, pretending to aim the squirt bottle at him. "Reeve, move your goggles, I can't hit your eyes like that, dumbass."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, my good man," Reeve said cordially, sliding the lab goggles over his forehead. "Is this better?"

"Great. Hold still, okay?"

"A'ight."

The two held their positions for a moment, and then broke down laughing after Reeve couldn't suppress a chuckle. Zack grinned amusedly, while Joanie giggled, saying "You guys are retarded."

"Heh, you so would have missed that anyway," Reeve told Cloud.

"No I wouldn't!" he insisted. "I could fire that crap up your nose from twenty feet away."

"Or even a hundred feet, eh Strife?" said a cold voice. "Just like your big brother did?"

The comment had issued from a boy sitting the table across from Cloud and Zack's, Mark Wick, a forward on the Varsity basketball team, and a friend of Sephiroth's. Students at the tables nearby stopped working, and looked over at the confrontational Wick. It was going to be interesting.

Cloud suddenly felt that familiar heaviness swim in his chest again, displacing whatever the hell it was that had been there right before. He couldn't respond, much less retort effectively. Thankfully perceptive, Zack picked up on this after a moment, and came to Cloud's rescue. "Shut your damn mouth, Wick," he ordered.

"Why don't you tell _him_ then? The fucking freak don't know his place."

Zack stood up, tossing his goggles on the table. "The hell, man, he didn't do anything to you!" He yelled.

"Not yet," Wick answered, his voice rising. "I heard you talking, Strife; I know you're just like him, you little-"

"Hey!" Mr. Black shouted, coming up the aisle. The entire class was silent now. "Disrupting my class already, Wick? You the official class troublemaker?" He was looking Wick square in the eye. Wick did his best to match his teacher, but despite the fact that he probably had a few inches over the guy, he couldn't help squirming. Mr. Black smirked. "Believe me son, you do _not_ want to mess with me." He paused a few moments, and then looked up again at the thirty-four eyes on him. "Start cleaning up, we'll finish the lab and do a write-up tomorrow."

Immediately the screech of chairs moving across the floor and pennies clattering on the tables resounded through the room. Cloud cleaned up slowly and intently; neither Reeve nor Zack met his eyes. Mr. Black glanced at him briefly before walking back to the blackboard, muttering "Stay after class" under his breath to the boy.

Cloud took his time gathering lab aprons, quietly telling Zack and Reeve that he'd catch up with them later. Soon his thirty-three classmates had exited, Wick among the last of them to leave. He shot a fleeting glare at Cloud, looking hateful.

Once everyone was out of the room Cloud approached Mr. Black at the front, who was sitting on a lab table. "Hm, I wondered if I'd get you," Mr. Black started, watching Cloud with an examining eye. "After I met you this morning, of course. Guess it's no wonder why you looked so depressed."

Cloud said nothing, still in a somewhat brooding mood. "You brother was one of my students, you know," the teacher continued, sounding strangely proud, even nostalgic. "He was in both my classes, Chemistry and Physics. Laziest little punk I've ever seen, but he was a damn smart one. He got A's in here even after he failed to turn in most of his homework. He really liked science, actually. Amusing guy."

"I hate him," Cloud muttered angrily.

The teacher scratched his head. "Well, I guess a lot of people around here do, understandably. But, you know, he did so much stuff that was hateful anyway. I remember getting pissed off as hell when I found out he was brewing his own meth at home." He eyed Cloud suspiciously. "You never did any of that stuff, did you?"

God, this was like Richter's office, without the bubble gum-supplemented sex demonstration. The only difference was that Cloud's impatience was rising faster this time, and it had just reached its limit in record time. "Look," Cloud started, bold and direct, "is there a point to this, or did you just call me up to accuse me of being a drug addict?" His voice was strained with edgy exasperation as he asked.

Mr. Black watched Cloud for a moment, fully aware of the anger boiling within the teenager, and then, to Cloud's surprise, he smirked slightly. "How come you don't use that assertiveness with Wick?" He asked quietly.

Half-insulted and half-confused, Cloud made like he was about to make a response, but couldn't quite figure out what that response was. All he _could_ figure out was that Mr. Black had been testing him. He must have known that Cloud despised Reno, and he used it to see if Cloud could put up a fight about it.

And it worked marvelously, that bastard.

Cloud's teacher continued on with his 'point:' "Look, I like your brother, but I honestly don't give a damn about him right now, and neither should you. What I do give a damn about is the fact that you have your friends fight your battles for you when you're obviously capable of throwing punches. So do it yourself." He hopped off of the lab table, now only slightly looming over Cloud, but still just as authoritative. "…Or I might just call your two buddies over to clean beakers the next time Wick starts messing with ya."

* * *

He walked out of Mr. Black's room in a bewildered daze, spotting his friends waiting by the boys bathrooms. Cloud definitely wasn't looking forward to admitting to them that Mr. Black apparently only called him over to tell him to stop being a chicken wuss.

But what Cloud's friends had to show him was much more disconcerting.

"Alright, let's go," Cloud muttered shortly, preparing to field any inquiries Zack and Reeve might have.

"No,dude, wait," said Zack, insistent.

Cloud started off towards the east hall, saying, "Look, I don't want to talk about it, let's just get to class-"

"No Cloud, look!" Reeve started, pulling Cloud back. "Down the hall, over there!"

Cloud didn't have to look very long; the eyes of every person in that hallway were focused on one figure gradually making his way through the crowd. With not even the slightest trace of a limp or injury, Sephiroth Hojo casually walked past, looking as imposing and heroic as ever. Even his usual posse of jocks seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the return of their captain.

Slowly, claps began to initiate. The rest of the crowd joined in quickly, and it didn't take long for the teenagers to take up the same chants they had shouted for their hero only months before. Sephiroth returned with a soft, comforted smile, as the applause and cheers grew louder and louder around him.

And though everyone watched Sephiroth in complete admiration as he came past, Cloud was the only one who averted his eyes.

* * *

"…I heard they pumped him full of mako till it started oozing out of his ears," Reeve was saying animatedly, as the three of them walked home from school an hour and a half later, joined by Aeris. "He got better like, in a week, but he was radioactive and glowing purple for two months. And his doctors wouldn't let him outside because he was sneezing out paint thinner and pissing battery acid."

"Dude, that's the stupidest rumor I've ever heard; it's totally bogus," Zack said, rolling his eyes as he kicked a soda can out of his path. "…And anyway, it wasn't mako, it was crystal meth."

"Could we maybe move on to a less disgusting topic?" asked a repulsed Aeris, although she snuck a quick sideways glance at Cloud as she said it.

Reeve looked at Aeris with a bit of annoyance. "Uh, we're like, totally gossiping here, girlfriend!" He said in his most obnoxious valley girl voice, fanning out his fingers and waving them at her to accent the act. "You, like, do it all the time with Joanie, remember? If you're not going to join in, then you'd better like, recognize and butt out, fer sure!"

Zack howled as he watched Reeve swivel his head once around his neck and snap his fingers. Cloud snorted too and looked over at Aeris, expecting one of her dry retorts. "Gee, that's a really good imitation, Reeve," Aeris started coolly, "do you want to see my imitation of you trying to throw a basketball two feet into the air and hitting yourself in the face?"

"Shutting up," said Reeve quickly, as Zack and Cloud 'ooh-ed' admiringly at Aeris' reply. It was one of Aeris' better ones, although Cloud thought it was a bit random since they'd only tried basketball together once last year.

"Guess you guys aren't walking home together today?" asked Zack, as the four of them approached the fork where Reeve and Aeris usually parted ways.

"Not if I get owned again," Reeve said, looking at Aeris cautiously.

She sighed, shaking her head sort of tiredly. "Sorry Reeve, I think I just had a bit of a bad day; my Biology teacher hates me, just because she does _not_ know what she's doing. It wasn't a fun afternoon. But it was awesome seeing you again Cloud!"

She hugged Cloud again, which still freaked him out, and said goodbye along with Reeve, setting off in the other direction. Zack of course, watched Aeris until she was out of sight.

"Oh god, don't tell me you're still crushing on her," Cloud told him, noticing Zack's stare.

"I'm still crushing on her."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "I asked you not to tell me that!"

"Oh, come on Cloud, I told you, this takes time!" Zack started walking again, Cloud following soon after. "Right now it's just taking more time than I anticipated. No worries though, the plan's in motion."

"Dude, what plan? You've done nothing. You haven't even given her that damn flower we risked our asses for."

"But I still have it." He said mischievously, as if he were playing a prank or something. "It's all about timing Cloud, timing."

Cloud snorted. "Dude, shut up." And, actually feeling comfortable with making the reference, added, "You sound like my brother."

"No, your brother doesn't possess that kind of patience," came a voice.

The boys froze. Neither of the two recognized the feminine voice. The word 'cop' instantly reverberated in Cloud's brain. Slowly he turned around, as did Zack.

There was a woman standing there, probably in her mid-20's but clad in combat pants and a raggy blue sweater. She wore a red bandanna in her auburn hair, as well as a curious but very friendly look on her face. Was she undercover? She looked too clean and relaxed to be another drug dealer…

"He also missed Reno's cockiness by about a mile," she said, adding to her earlier thought.

"Who are you?" Cloud said immediately, but cautiously. "What do you want? And how do you know my brother?"

"Um…okay, Jessie, a hot dog, and he replaced my nitroglycerin supply," she answered, counting off her fingers. When she finished she smiled.

"…Er, what?"

Jessie shook her head, tossing her hands up. "Geez, if you're gonna ask a three-part question, keep track of your queries!" She sighed. "Okay, again…I am Jessie, I want a hot dog because I'm hungry, and I know your brother because he replaced my nitroglycerin supply the other day."

Cloud exchanged a look with Zack, then turned to give Jessie another confused look. Zack decided to speak up. "Nitroglycerin?"

"Yeah, you know, the explosive stuff?" she said, growing impatient.

"I know," Zack replied awkwardly, "but…why would you need a supply of-"

"That's not important! Ugh, this is taking longer than I thought! Look, Cloud, right?" Slowly, he nodded, and to his surprise, she came closer, bringing her voice down to a whisper. "I'll make this short. I am Jessie, and I'm with Avalanche, I don't think I have to explain who they are. Reno's with us too. He's in town right now, and he wants to see you, on Saturday." And before Cloud's jaw could even drop, she produced a letter from one of her pockets, addressed to Cloud in what was clearly Reno's disjointed handwriting.

Cloud stared at the letter in disbelief, exchanging a consulting glance with an equally dumbfounded Zack. "Um, Cloud, are you really into staring contests or something?" asked Jessie after a while. "You want me to open it for you?"

"No, no…" Cloud's finger pried apart the adhesive on the envelope, and he pulled the letter out. It read:

_Cloud,_

He noticed that the firstline was crossed out. It was still legible though, it read:

_What up man? How's school goin? How's Mom? I'm okay, _

And it ended there. He read the rest of the letter:

_You know what? Fuck letter-writing, formalities make me sound like a douche. Basically, I wanna tell you what's been going on. I know, I've been a dick, but just come. I need you to meet me on Saturday at 10 AM. I can't write the meeting place right now, Jessie will tell you that. You can bring your little friends if you want, but DON'T TELL ANYONE ELSE. Not even Mom. And tell your friends not to be turds either. _

_Reno_

"What…the fuck…is this!" Cloud started, with unusual hysterics. "Who the hell does that fucking idiot think he is, ordering me to meet him! He drops out of fucking society for five months and now he wants to explain! I'm sorry about the trouble," he said to Jessie, "but I'm not coming! Tell him to go fuck-"

"AHEM." Jessie cleared her throat loudly, managing to interrupt Cloud's tirade. He glared at her, looking grossly offended.

"There's a postscript," she said simply. Cloud looked.

_PS: Please._

He considered it for a long moment. He gave Zack a sort of "what should I do" glance, but Zack looked a little too freaked out with Cloud's sudden mood change to respond normally.

Cloud repeated it to himself in his head. 'Please,' that was like a dirty word to Reno. Well, in the literal sense at least. And like most people, Reno only used it when he had to, like a dreaded last resort. And when addressed to Cloud, he had only used it exactly four times in his life (not counting whenever their parents forced him to). This is why Reno had used it as a postscript. It really was a big thing, both he and Cloud knew.

"So," said Jessie, smiling nicely at him, "Will you come?"

Cloud hesitated, looked at her with seriousness, and then said, "Did that dickhead really think that was gonna work for me this time! What the hell man, does he even have the _slightest_ idea what I've had to go through because of him!"

"Cloud!" she started, with some shock, only to be interrupted again.

"No, tell him to go screw himself, I'm not coming."

Jessie sighed, shaking her head. "Well, I told him that wasn't gonna work. So we came up with a contingency plan."

"Why, am I supposed to be like a hurricane or something?" asked Cloud sarcastically.

"No, your brother just knows you too well. That's why he finally asked me to tell you that he wants you to punch him."

Cloud didn't quite hear that clearly. "Uh, excuse me?"

"He said that whatever hate or aggression you feel towards him, he wants you to pack it all into one big healthy punch, and to deliver it to him in the face the moment you walk in the door on Saturday," she said matter-of-factly.

So he did hear it. "Are you serious?"

"I think he was serious," said Zack. "Your bro _did_ set a hamster on fire for you."

Jessie gave him a look. "Really?"

"Long story."

Cloud read the letter again, examining it with a feeling of extreme distaste. Another long sigh, and he crumbled up the letter, stuffing it into his pocket. "I am so going to regret this."

-----------------------------------

_Writing transition chapters can be a bore at times, hence the lateness. Obviously, the real Reno-ness will be in the next chappie, which is more plot-based, so this should be easier. Yay!_


End file.
